Floating
by dooder's nin
Summary: Originally published on Inkitt. A bet over who's the better mariner leads to an American-sized competition full of the usual antics, complete with fireworks, bonfires and others things. Such the unexpected storm that leaves Alfred to play the part of the hero - a part he does enthusiastically and heroically of course...
1. Chapter 1

It was a warm day, although being in the Pacific Ocean usually meant that it was generally warm. There was an energetic vibe from the group that was at one of the docks at one of Alfred's territories, Guam, as they gathered supplies and made ready their ships. It was a sailing race that had started off more as a bet between two personifications and had escalated into this. It was due mostly to the Nordics comparing Viking legacy as pirates and explorers to something that Arthur had said about his own experiences as a renowned privateer or pirate depending on what sort of conversation the British man was in.

Denmark had suggested they put their sailings skills to a competition and as soon as Alfred had heard _that_ , he had blown that competition to his usual grander scale and had enlisted several other personifications who had either genuinely wanted to enjoy the day sailing or had been more or less pushed into it by an obliviously overly-encouraging American. There were some, like Arthur, who would be sailing alone on his own ship, but others had opted for teammates to sail completely around the island. The Italy brothers were there also, although with the leisurely way they were preparing, it didn't seem like there was much self-urging to try and win as it looked like they were more concerned with enjoying the time out at sea.

Germany had tried his best not to take part, clearly hoping to enjoy the nice climate of the island, but at any lack of coordination between the Italy brothers, he found himself giving into his compulsion to keep order. While Ludwig did his best to keep the Italy brothers from being sidetracked with food, sleep, or girls during the day meant for preparation, Arthur was busy dealing with getting things just right while avoiding the teasing remarks of the Nordics.

The group of them had teamed up, 'for old times' sake' as Denmark put it and Arthur was feeling a little more confident in himself despite the apparent disadvantage. He knew that with the group of them, as much as they typically ended up grouped together, could easily dissolve into chaos with hardly any prodding on anyone's part. It was the constant presence of both Francis and Antonio, who had also opted to each sail on their own, that was providing a bit of an annoyance to him as well as the jabs brought about by Netherlands about their histories too.

The only ones not seeming to be caught up in too much yelling were the Baltics as they attempted to prepare their ship with the ever-watchful eye of Russia as he worked on his ship next to their own. Ivan had been persistent in trying to get them to join him, this time only for the race (supposedly), but had to back down when the three kept disappearing on him. He'd attempted to persuade Yao, but the Chinese personification was eager to show off his own sailing prominence and had been goading Kiku to take part in the race. The Japanese man had repeatedly declined only to show up the day before they were to set sail on their course with his own boat, nearly ready to go.

This left the personifications on shore, who had come to see the others off before taking their vacation, with the usual meltdown between China and Japan which entailed of Yao shouting while Kiku appeared to not be bothered by anything the other said. It was made all the more entertaining when Alfred came over to greet his friend, not picking up on the fact that there was an argument going on, and had effectively shut up China by dragging Kiku off to see his own ship that he was working on. Yao had called out to him to pay attention more, only to then slip off the side of his boat when he'd leaned too far over the side trying to get Alfred to turn around.

As night fell, Alfred had set up a bonfire for everyone to enjoy on the beach, although a few of those who had planned on sailing remained on their boats too. Arthur was suspicious of leaving his boat for longer than necessary, knowing it was likely to have something tampered with by one of the others. Instead, he watched from the deck how Alfred brought out all sorts of fireworks to light up, Yao remarking on how inferior his were to the Chinese man's own.

Arthur was treated to the sight of Alfred's show, supplemented by a performance put on by Feliks as the Polish man had apparently gotten too close to either the fireworks or the bonfire and was now running and screaming as he tried to put out the flames on his clothes while Lithuania had followed after him. The British man smirked as Feliks lunged into the ocean to douse the flames, shaking his head at their antics while also listening in to be sure that the blonde Eastern European hadn't actually hurt himself.

"Toris…" Arthur called out as he got off of his boat with a towel in hand, walking over to the Lithuanian as he listened to Feliks complaining about his ruined outfit. The brunette looked over to him, smiling gratefully and accepting the towel as he checked over Poland once more to be sure he hadn't been burned.

"Everybody okay over there?" Alfred shouted over from where he stood with a couple of fireworks in his hand. Handing them over to Hong Kong, the other man looking eager to set them off without waiting for the American to return.

The American personification headed over with humor on his face. "Dude, I'd have thought you knew not to stand there. And everybody says _I'm_ distracted." He said with a laugh, Arthur rolling his eyes at the other's attitude.

"Maybe you shouldn't have been setting off those fireworks where you did then, Alfred." Arthur said, Feliks grabbing onto that idea before storming off with several loud complaints. Alfred shrugged, not bothering too much to hide his laughter once it was clear that Feliks was fine, and shooting Lithuania a simultaneously amused and sympathetic look. Toris sighed but understood the apology, following after Poland who was complaining about how his night was 'totally ruined'.

Arthur simply shook his head, getting in a cuff to Alfred's head for no reason other than to laugh at the subsequent 'hey!' that action produced from the American. The rest of the night seemed to go by without too much drama that could come about, although Arthur couldn't help but feel his chances of showing up the Danish personification increasing with the increasing amount of alcohol being consumed by said man.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day started off a little later than had been planned due to some contestants' protesting any form of an early start after the party the night before. Alfred, however, had been ready to ship off almost at dawn it seemed to many of the others as his usual level of enthusiasm seemed to have skyrocketed in anticipation. He was just barely able to outline the rules thanks to having Kiku questioning everything for good measure before agreeing anyway to what Alfred had suggested.

"Okay. So, it's simple..." Alfred said as he and the others who were going to race stood on the docks. "Sailing around the island to get back to the starting point. Couldn't be more dull, but it works, right?" He said, making to climb onto his ship.

"And what about any places we should avoid, Alfred?" Arthur asked, halting the eager American's walk. "We don't know the area too well and you decided to have a bonfire rather than brief us on any potentially dangerous areas." He said, Alfred shrugging in response and earning a huff of irritation from the older blonde.

"Dude, I gave y'all maps and stuff when you first got here. Use those." He said, Arthur just as surprised as some of the others that Alfred would've taken the time to do that. Then again, they were on Alfred's territory and so it wasn't too outside the norm. "Besides, if I told ya everything, then there'd be no real competition. Help's just on the coast and we're only goin' just outside of sight of land." He said.

"Then how do we know you are not planning on using knowledge of area to be cheating?" Ivan asked with smile in place, head cocked to the side as he asked his question. He had under his arm some supplies that made the others question just what exactly Ivan was planning on doing out on his boat alone with what looked like a harpoon. But, considering who they were analyzing, they all thought better of outright asking what could very well have been a 'comfort' to the Russian man in much the same way the double-headed axe was to Denmark.

"Come on dude." Alfred said with an eye roll, not fazed by the strange image Ivan made with those items and sunscreen already on his nose that must've been the result of one of sister's doting. "Home field advantage. But if it makes you feel better, the hero will give you all a….five minute head-start. Better?" He said, Ivan choosing not to say anything and instead heading to his boat. "Okay, then. Guess that works." Alfred said with a chuckle at the lack of a response from Ivan, while the Baltics seemed more nervous than before at the Russian's demeanor.

"Ve~, what about lunch breaks?" Feliciano asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet in his own excitement. In response, his older brother groaned and rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"Idiota, we're on a boat. We'll be eating _on_ the boat." Romano grumbled, Feliciano pausing in his bouncing as he thought over what his brother said. Without actually opening his eyes, the others could practically see him blinking in confusion before smiling again.

"Okay. But won't the….wait for me big brother." Feliciano began, only to start to run after his already retreating brother as Romano apparently decided to take off on his own while his brother pondered over the deeper things in life – namely how to create the perfect dish of pasta on their boat with what they had packed away.

But if Feliciano had found a way to do so in the middle of the desert with Ludwig, Romano felt like there shouldn't be too much for him to be concerned about. He instead was avoiding Antonio's last minute suggestions that the Italys join him on his boat for the trip, the southern Italian disappearing below deck quickly with a blush on his face and obscenities on his lips.

With that, it seemed that everyone was satisfied that there was some sense of order to this race and had each gone to make their boats ready. The others who had chosen not to take part met up on the shore to wish them all safe trips, Alfred jumping back on the dock once the others were ready.

"All set? Go!" Alfred shouted to get the others' attention, pulling out and shooting off his gun without warning up in the air. Once the shock wore off, Arthur scolding the American once more as he took off with the others, Alfred only laughed at the startled shouts and surprised faces around him. As they took off, Alfred felt a tap on his shoulder.

"You decided not to go, eh?" Matthew asked as his twin faced him, a curious expression on his face. He could see some of the others with similar questioning looks.

"Figured out you, like, weren't up to the challenge?" Feliks teased, clearly looking to toss a barb toward the American after blaming him for the previous night. He honestly had no idea why anyone would think to blame him for getting caught up with all the sparklers to not notice that he'd caught his pant leg on fire – it was _sparkles_ after all.

"Dude, that so doesn't even make sense." Alfred said with a scoff at the implication that he couldn't rise to any occasion. "I'm just givin' everyone a head-start because _someone_ thought I might have too much of an advantage. It's only fair I guess." He said, checking his watch and climbing back into his boat.

"You sure it's a good day to do this?" Matthew asked as he watched his brother undo the rope connecting his ship to the dock. "I mean, you checked the weather and everything, right?" He said, looking up to see a clear, sunny sky that gave no indication otherwise that there might be any reason for alarm.

"Yeah, yeah, ya' worry-wart." Alfred said with a teasing smile, as he started up the boat's engine and slowly headed out. "Forecasts didn't mention anything. We'll be fine. Make sure you got the burgers goin' by the time we get back, bro!" He said with a wave before the boat took off at full speed to catch up to the others.

The Italy brothers' boat was still quite visibly lagging behind enough to cause Germany to shake his head at his friend's clear apathy toward the concept of a race. Matthew waved goodbye with a smile, but it seemed his twin had either forgotten he was still standing there or wasn't paying attention to much of anything else beside his boat.

* * *

Alfred easily managed to sail past the Italy brothers with a friendly wave, Feliciano already lazily going about the deck while his brother tried to put in some semblance of effort toward their goal. The northern Italian gave out a friendly greeting in return before cringing at his brother's exclamations for him to pay attention to what he was doing before he fell overboard.

For a while, Alfred managed to navigate pretty easily to where he knew the currents to be better for natural bursts of speed, going a little farther out but quickly catching up with the Baltic, and Spanish personifications. Alfred extended a greeting by blowing his boat's horn. Receiving similar toots from the other boats with his friends, Alfred decided to see if he could start a conversation.

"Ha ha ha. Did you see the Italys?" Alfred laughed to him as he caught up, speaking through the radio. "I think they've decided to turn this into a cruise rather than a race. Romano's only gonna be able to last so long with Feliciano bouncing around as he was." Alfred said, waiting for a reply.

"Si. But that's not a horrible way to spend the day." Antonio answered, earning a smile from Alfred. "I wouldn't mind doing something like that myself later." The Spanish man continued.

"Careful. You and the Italy brothers might end up making it back by next week." Alfred said, readjusting his course to head out a little farther to where he thought the 'sweet spot' would be for his kind of boat to start to make significant progress. It was clear that each participant had their own tactics, the ships spread out pretty good at this point. Alfred was waiting for a reply when it seemed like the other nearby boat was having some difficulty, smoke billowing from its backend.

"Hey, you three alright?" Alfred asked into the radio, confident that the other boat would still be able to pick up his signal. "Dudes, this may be a competition, but if ya need help, the hero's here for ya." Alfred tried again when it seemed he wasn't getting an immediate response, pausing for an answer and hearing Antonio calling over the radio too.

"Oh, um…no need. We're f-fine." Raivis' voice came over the line. "Well, we will be. Once the engine stops smoking." He continued, Alfred hearing another voice on the other end shouting to him. The radio was obviously fumbled about with for a moment before Alfred heard his friend's voice come through.

"We're alright Mr. America. Thank you though." Toris said, sounding a little stressed. "It seems the engine somehow had a few things wrong with it, he he." He said with a nervous laugh, Alfred certain that such unforeseen circumstances may have had something to do with a certain tall, intimidating man that happened to be fond of hovering around the Baltics. "We'll work through it." Toris said, clearly intending that to be the end of the discussion.

"Ya know, you could probably just _ask_ him what he did. Knowing him, he'd be more than happy to tell you." Alfred said with a shake of his head at how creepy the other man could get sometimes. But experience had taught him that Ivan would most likely offer to then help - if they agreed to 'become one with him'- smile firmly in place as he made such a suggestion.

"N-No, we can work together. That's why we teamed up in the first place." Toris hastily said, worried that Alfred might just bring Ivan into the discussion since he and the Asian personifications were in the next clump of boats visible. "We may have our differences, but we're capable of fixing this. Thank you anyway Mr. America." He said with a tone that Alfred recognized from having the Lithuanian stay with him as pleading without having to actually plead.

"Okay then. Take care dudes." Alfred said, heading further out more to get back into the race once more, finding where he wanted to be and bypassing the other three ships. He was surprised to find that he hadn't spotted at least Francis' ship, but figured that the Frenchman was more than adept at finding ways to be annoying close to Arthur.

Alfred could only assume that the British man was somewhere further ahead, and that the Frenchman was doggedly tailing him or had somehow managed to overtake him. As for the Nordics, he made the same assumption that they'd managed to get into the lead for the race so long as the much warmer climate didn't cause them all to pass out. He'd noticed how Sweden seemed to be a little lightheaded the day before as they'd prepared their boats, taking charge as the 'hero' and feeling the need to assist the large man as Tino fretted over him.

Alfred had begun to start thinking about actually making something to eat for lunch as he continued on in the deeper waters, checking over his maps again as music blared in the background to help fill the silence that Alfred often found stifling – he'd done his best to try and get his twin to accompany him, but it seemed nothing could persuade the Canadian who preferred the part of the 'welcoming party' instead.

As he continued on, grabbing an apple in the meantime before making an actual lunch of an appropriate size, his thoughts were interrupted as he noticed the sun seemed to suddenly turn off as clouds began to fill the sky. He switched the radio over to what should've been a station giving the weather, only for a freak storm to start pounding into his ship. He scrambled to prepare for the storm, the boat beginning to rock as the waves began to get larger and more tumultuous.

He heard a crack as the winds snapped the mast his sail had been attached to, the whole boat rocking even more as it came crashing to the deck. The waves kept coming over the sides of the boat, Alfred realizing that his ship was being blown off course. He wondered if the others had run into the same storm for only a few moments before a flash of lightning illuminated the horizon, the outlines of a couple of ships visible to him but indistinguishable. Fighting to keep the boat steady, all he could think about was how oddly clairvoyant his twin seemed to have been that day.


	3. Chapter 3

When the storm had apparently blown over, Alfred hesitatingly released his tight grip on the wheel. The engine had given out after the deck had flooded enough through the wood to reach it, Alfred having to improvise with his strength to keep things together long enough to keep afloat. He took a few deep breaths as he righted himself in the cabin area, looking at the still lingering ominously gray clouds.

 _Sunshine expected all day so I was told_ , Alfred thought with irritation as he carefully walked over the deck to inspect the damage better. _With that storm, I just hope everyone's boats held up alright,_ he mused as he lifted the mast to readjust where it lay, allowing him access to actually get to the back of the boat to see if the rudder was still jammed.

"Ve~!" A voice called out, gaining Alfred's attention as he squinted out over the ocean. Land had long since been out of sight as he'd purposely navigated that way, but he didn't think he'd been blown far enough backwards to reach the Italy brothers. But as he listened, Romano's grumbling voice was heard before Alfred saw off in the distance what looked like a white flag being rapidly waved.

Looking around quickly to see what he could use to make it over there, Alfred sighed as he realized he'd have to act as the engine and literally push his boat along if he wanted to control any movement. Short of just jumping in the water and pushing the boat, Alfred racked his brain for another solution, finding it in the broken pieces of the mast. Taking the metal piece that had held a portion of the sail, he tore off the door to the cabin and jammed it on the end to make a makeshift, large paddle. _Here goes_ , he thought as he began to slowly but surely push the boat in the direction he'd last seen the tiny white blurb in the distance.

"Great…About time you got here lazy bastard." Romano said as Alfred approached, seeing the two men clinging to their capsized boat. "You brought us out into a damned storm!" He continued as he grabbed ahold of the 'paddle' Alfred made, climbing aboard the boat before turning to assist his younger brother who looked to still be shaking.

"Oh, come on. You'd think you'd never been in a storm at sea before." Alfred said with a huff as he matched Romano's barbs with his own teasing, receiving a very red-faced Italian. But before Romano could go off, Feliciano interjected with his own comments.

"N-Not in a w-while." The northern Italian said before he clung tightly to his American friend and began to cry, Romano huffing at the usual sight his brother made. "I w-was in the middle of making pasta. Now it's all at the bottom of the ocean." He wailed, Alfred awkwardly patting the man on the back as he listened to how he listed his priorities – pasta first, bodily safety second. But Alfred had been known to put food first sometimes too, although not when in 'hero' mode as he was.

"Okay, Feli…um…let go and I'll see if we can find our way back to shore." Alfred said, gently prying the crying man off of him. At that , Romano returned to glaring at Alfred, the American personification understanding a little more of why Ludwig seemed so stressed whenever he'd been dealing with both Italys at the same time.

"You mean you don't know where we are?!How stupid are you, damn fat hamburger-stuffing bastard." Romano grouched, making his way toward the cabin warily. "Don't you know how to use your stupid navigational…" He continued, only to slip on the water that had slicked the deck, landing flat on his back. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, Feliciano giving out a panicked cry and racing over to his brother.

Alfred watched as the younger Italian met the same slippery fate, only landing face-first into his brother as Romano recovered and tried to sit up. Despite the situation, Alfred laughed at the display as Feliciano apologized and began to voice his worries for his brother while Romano cursed the other's existence as he pleaded for his brother to get off of him.

"Well, when you two are done, Mr. Navigational Expert can take a look at the state of my instruments." Alfred said as he stepped over the two of them, carefully placing his paddle on the deck. "In case you hadn't noticed, there was a storm – an _electrical_ storm. I got zapped a few times and it fried them. Engine's gone too." Alfred said, leaving his two guests on the deck to go grab some towels that might have managed to remain dry.

Feliciano and Romano followed after him, Feliciano extending his thanks on behalf of him and his brother as Romano grumpily took the towel. After making sure that the two weren't actually injured beyond being waterlogged, Alfred was back out on the deck with his paddle, Romano taking the wheel to try and steer with a partially jammed rudder. They sailed that way for what felt like to them at least a few hours before some pops came over the radio as someone was clearly trying to contact them.

While Feliciano fiddled with the radio unsuccessfully, his brother making 'suggestions' on how to get it to work, they came across more wreckage. Japan's boat was nowhere in sight but the man was sitting on the deck of the half-sunken Chinese man's boat with the older man beside him. The three of them could see Kiku in obvious discomfort, Yao continuing to adjust a temporary splint on his younger brother's leg.

"Yo! Hop on!" Alfred called out as he pushed his boat closer, Feliciano assisting as best he could to help steady the boat alongside the slowly slinking boat. "Come on, before you pull a Titanic. Just so long as you don't start singin'" Alfred said with a smile, hoping to help ease things for his injured friend.

"No way we are getting on that piece of junk." Yao grumbled as he looked over the state of Alfred's boat. "We have better chance of getting help with my boat." He said, ignoring how Kiku agreed with Alfred again like always. The Japanese man attempted to stand up on his own, taking Yao's attention away from Alfred and back onto Kiku.

"Dude, aren't _your_ ships called junk?" Alfred asked with a laugh, the corners of Kiku's lips turning upwards as the older Asian personification sputtered at how Alfred used his words against him.

"Not in that context America-aru." Yao grumbled, pushing Kiku back down to sit on the deck. "And Japan should not move yet. He has a broken leg." He said, Kiku hissing as the older man began to focus again on tending to his injured leg.

"All the more reason to get off a sinking ship man!" Alfred tried again, emphasizing the fact that no matter how hard the Chinese man resisted, the fact remained that at some point, he and Kiku would be going underwater sooner rather than later. "Just…grab food and medical supplies and get off that thing." He said, Kiku mumbling something quietly in Yao's ear that Alfred hoped would be more convincing than his own clearly ignored reasoning. With a huff, Yao assisted in maneuvering Kiku to help get him onto Alfred's boat. Once Kiku was safely on board the more sound boat, gasping from the exertion, Yao disappeared below deck to gather supplies.

"Here." Yao said, leaning over the side of his boat, which he'd reluctantly realized had sunk farther than it had been when Alfred and the Italys had first arrived. He handed several bags to Feliciano and Romano to take, the Italians assisting him as Alfred carried Kiku below deck to rest in his bed.

"Do your instruments still work? Hamburger-head's are finito." Romano said, Yao pausing a moment as he sighed at that information.

"Mostly, but I can't just pick them up and hand them to you." He said with a shake of his head, huffing in irritation as he thought about a course of action. "I was able to get some reading from them but I cannot be totally sure. Help me see if we can take parts and we can repair Alfred's instruments." He said, Romano groaning at having to climb aboard the other ship.

But the two men quickly scavenged as many parts as they could, staying with the boat until it was almost completely submerged. After China's heavy sigh at seeing his boat practically sunken and therefore not the most reliable place to wait for help, Alfred paddled away from the wreckage as quickly and carefully as he could to avoid any debris causing any damage to his own already-damaged boat. Yao quickly got to work trying to get the instruments fixed, Feliciano disappearing to go look after his Japanese friend while Romano continued to begrudgingly assist Alfred in making any repairs to the boat.

"You really think kicking the damn thing is going to make any progress?" Romano said as he leaned against the doorway, watching Alfred attempt to tinker with his busted engine. The salt water had made short work of it, Alfred doing his best to try and determine where the main problem lay to then go about finding an alternative mode of cutting through the water rather than the quickly exhausting paddling he'd had to resort to for most of the day.

"Guess so. Maybe if you curse at it some more it'll start to work." Alfred grumbled, his annoyance level reaching its peak at receiving no 'thank you hero' from Romano or Yao after he had just saved them. Romano just smirked as he rolled his eyes, Alfred thankful the other had kept quiet. But as he continued to work with no progress, Alfred let out a noise of frustration and tossed his wrench, Romano ducking at the last minute to avoid getting a wrench to the face.

"Gesù Cristo! Watch it bastard!" Romano said in a tone that might seem to indicate that his temper wasn't to be trifled with, but his widened eyes at seeing Alfred actually getting angry was proof of his fear. "Take a damn break before you sink us all! Go get a snack or something." He said, Alfred taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair as he heard the attempt to be helpful from the southern Italian. He silently walked past the other man, hearing Romano give a sigh of relief at his retreat before muttering himself at how stupid the engine was as he apparently took a look.

Alfred climbed back up to his cabin, seeing Kiku resting semi-comfortably in the 'bedroom' area with Feliciano next to him chatting away like normal. "Oh, hello Alfredo. I was going to see if you and big brother had made any progress. Yao's got a few things working again…well, not really….sort of…" Feliciano said as Alfred opened the small refrigerator to take out a yogurt, figuring they should eat the foods that would spoil quickest first. "…but that's mainly thanks to asking Kiku for help, but don't tell him we told you, ve~" Feliciano cheerfully said, Alfred taking a seat on the bench with a sigh as he ate his snack.

"Ah, I take it that the engine is being…uncooperative?" Kiku asked delicately and receiving a pout from Alfred in answer to his question. Feliciano made an appropriate disappointed noise before tilting his head as he opened his eyes to get a better look at Alfred.

"You look really tired. Are you okay Alfredo?" He asked, watching as Alfred finished the last of his yogurt and made his way over to the fridge. But Alfred paused, hand outstretched as he'd reached for another yogurt, before sighing and closing the fridge.

"We should probably be careful with how much we eat – like when we all thought we were stranded at Seychelles' place." He said, looking like it was the saddest thing to have to use what self-control he had to not just eat like usual. "And yeah, I'm exhausted. You try rowing a boat this big. It ain't like your gondolas." He said as he sat back down beside his friend, Feliciano patting his shoulder.

"You should then have a little more to eat, Arfred-kun." Kiku said, Alfred shaking his head despite wanting to do just that as he figured he could probably go for a little longer. "Then at least take a break to get some rest." The Japanese man said, pushing himself off the bed as quickly as he could as he ignored the protests from the other two personifications. "No, you take the bed. Feliciano will help me to the bench that is supposed to pass as a couch. I can prop my leg up there." He said as he waved off Alfred's concern. Giving a sigh as he watched his friend determinedly shuffle to where Alfred had previously sat, Feliciano gently lifted Kiku's injured leg onto the cushions that Alfred thought felt much harder than they should have.

"How did this happen anyway?" The northern Italian asked of Kiku after the other was settled, Alfred plopping down on the bed without further complaint. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, listening for his friend's answer.

"When the storm hit, I did my best to keep my boat steady. But China and I were blown into one another and my ship didn't fare as well as his I'm sad to admit." Kiku began, Alfred imagining him shrugging in defeat at the tone in his voice as he kept his eyes closed, although he knew that the Japanese man probably would avoid looking overly emotional if he could help it. "I tripped over something as my boat tilted and wasn't quite able to brace for the fall. China-san was able to pull me aboard his boat once the wind let up. His ship only held up better because of the way we crashed, but it was lucky that Arfred-kun and you two came by when you did." He said.

"That's the hero's job." Alfred mumbled from his spot before rolling over to get comfortable, drifting off to sleep. Shortly afterwards, Romano came back from his own unsuccessful efforts with the engine, taking one look at the sleeping American personification before grumbling about him being a 'lazy bastard'.


	4. Chapter 4

Alfred woke up to Feliciano urgently shaking him, muttering in Italian far too quickly for Alfred's foggy mind to process. He had plenty of Italian speakers on his lands and could speak the language fine, but English was much better understood when still half-asleep.

"Ngghh….Feli….English, bro. Was' a matter?" He mumbled as he pushed his body into a sitting position, finding his body protesting, especially his arms.

"Yao spotted something in the distance. We think it might be some of the others." The northern Italian said, grasping Alfred's hands and pulling him to follow after him. "We were-a going to try and use your paddle together, but Romano and I can't-a quite do it without hitting one another." He said, Alfred snickering at the image of the two Italians attempting to coordinate their movements to glide the boat over to where Yao wanted to try and steer them.

"Okay, okay, I'm comin'." Alfred said with a yawn as he climbed out onto the deck with Feli, passing a sleeping Kiku. "China get everything workin' on his end without havin' to wake up Japan?" He asked, wondering how long he'd slept and really hoping they'd found a way to contact the others to come pick them up – drifting aimlessly at sea was so much worse than being stranded in his opinion.

"Not exactly…." Feliciano said, his tone not helping build confidence for Alfred in the other's capabilities to reorient themselves. The prospect of having been blown out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean loomed more as a possibility as they continued to rely on the old methods of navigation thanks to blown-out instruments and water-logged phones that weren't picking up signals. But as Alfred picked up the 'paddle' and began to push the boat over to where Romano indicated, he felt a little relieved at the sunny sky.

"'Bout time you woke up lazy bastard." Romano grumbled by way of greeting, Alfred choosing to focus on just pushing his boat instead of replying. "It's been nearly a whole day!" He said with typical exaggerated hand gestures as he spoke.

"Well, more like a couple of hours. The sun should be going down soon." Feliciano commented, causing Alfred to take another look at the sky to confirm for himself the lower position of the sun in the sky. "But the others should find us soon." He said optimistically.

"If I have to hear another comment about the damned potato-bastard coming to the rescue, I swear I'm-a gonna wring your neck." Romano said, earning a squeak from his brother who ducked away from his brother's lunge to run back into the relative safety of the cabin.

Alfred laughed at the two of them, thinking at least there was entertainment with having those two as part of his sailing crew. Their antics continued as Alfred continued to act as the engine, gradually reaching more wreckage.

"Ah, Amerique, over here!" He heard Francis' shout, spotting the Frenchman clinging to what had been a part of someone's boat, a portion of a sail attached. "That laughter couldn't be mistaken for anything else." Francis continued to shout as the boat approached, Romano grumbling to just leave the 'perverted bastard' in the water.

As he got closer, Alfred noticed that there were feet sticking out from under the sail, causing his worry to mount. "Wake up Angleterre. You see, I told you I would keep you safe until help arrived. Look, our boy is here." Francis said, fumbling with the sail with shaking hands, clearly having spent the entire time clinging to their makeshift raft entirely exposed to the sun as he let the Englishman lay under the sail.

"Francis, can you swim over more?" Alfred asked, not sure if he could safely maneuver the boat closer like he'd done for the Italy brothers. "I know you're tired man, but my engine's gone and I don't wanna end up runnin' ya over with the boat." He said, watching as Francis struggled to get closer.

There was movement from under the sail as Arthur apparently woke up, lifting the sail off his face and blinking as the sun reached his eyes. Alfred winced at the blood on the man's forehead, understanding why the two Europeans hadn't been switching out who floated on the raft and feeling surprised at Francis' level of devotion to adhering to his 'big brother' caretaking role he so often spoke of himself as.

"Come on dude, I gotcha." Alfred said, sticking out the paddle for Francis to grab ahold of as soon as he got close enough. So focused on that, neither Alfred nor Francis noticed the fin that broke the surface of the water.

"F-Francis…" Arthur mumbled out as urgently as he could, drawing Alfred's attention to the shark that chose that moment to make its move. The Frenchman turned at the call, hand firmly gripping the paddle as Alfred had begun to pull them to the boat.

Francis gasped as he realized their situation, flinching as the head of the shark became visible, especially the teeth. But before there was the chance for the animal to dart forward quickly to attack the Frenchman, both blonde Europeans felt a splash of water on them as Alfred dove on top of the shark.

"Alfred!" Arthur and Francis called out as both he and the shark disappeared, prompting Romano and Feliciano to come back over to the side of the boat to see what was going on. After what seemed like forever, Arthur called again, tilting his makeshift raft to the point of almost falling into the water as the Italy brothers took over pulling the two men toward the boat.

"No, give me a moment." Arthur said as Francis tried to lift him up onto the deck, sloppily pulling his arm away. "Alfred!" He called out again, searching the water with his eyes, only to lean backwards when Alfred suddenly popped up alongside his raft. "Bloody hell! What was that?!" He yelled, the hold Francis had on him the only thing that saved him from toppling into the water himself. The Frenchman continued to assist Arthur onto the deck, Alfred pushing from behind as he climbed out of the water panting.

"You're…welcome." Alfred said between breaths, "I stopped it from comin' after ya. Y'know...Supposed to...punch them in the nose if it's...that close. It took off after the whallop I gave it." He said, holding his arm and bringing to the others' attention that it was bleeding.

"Oh, Alfredo…." Feliciano said with a sympathetic wince, but Alfred waved off his concern. "It _bit_ you?" The northern Italian asked, eyes open wide at the thought.

"It tried to…" Alfred said with a shaky smile. "Lots of teeth on those things after all. But it's only from…uh…scraping my arm against some of the more _exposed_ teeth when I punched it. I'll be fine. Hero's got this…" He said, showing off his arm to the others. "How're you guys?" He asked as Arthur grabbed his arm to inspect closer, Alfred pulling back and instead touching the British man's head as gently as he could. Arthur couldn't help but flinch in response, releasing Alfred's arm.

"Aside from that lovely head injury and what's sure to be a ghastly sunburn from floating all day out there, I think Angleterre and I are alright." Francis said as he shakily stood up with Feliciano's help. "I kept mon petite lapin covered with the sail for most of the day. He burns so easily." Francis said, satisfied when Arthur scowled at him that the younger personification was well enough to keep up with their usual teasing of each other.

"Where would you be without Big Brother France? Hmmm?" Francis continued, Arthur opening his mouth to reply before merely huffing and not bothering to expend any of his already drained energy on keeping up pretenses. Although he did mutter under his breath shortly afterwards as Alfred helped more or less carry him and Francis below deck.

Kiku was awake by the time the group reached him, eyes widening at the state of the two new passengers before he gasped at seeing Alfred's arm bloody as well. "What happened out there? I heard much yerring…" He said, looking over to Romano when it seemed the others were all otherwise preoccupied with getting everyone settled. The boat only meant for possibly three or four to go on short sailing trips was getting incredibly crowded at this point and by the looks of their host and 'hero', Alfred was getting worn down as well.

"Ugh…a damn shark showed up while we were fishing these two out of the water." Romano grumbled, taking the hand Kiku extended to him as the Japanese man wordlessly asked for help in adjusting his position to make room for the others. "The hero here decided to go wrestle with it while Feli and I pulled them over to the boat." He said before gasping. "The paddle!" He said, taking off back onto the deck.

Kiku heard what sounded like something being dragged above him, his conclusion that the southern Italian was pulling their only means of movement back onto the deck from where they'd left it dangling over the side confirmed as Romano came back panting a little.

"Everything alright down here?" Yao's voice called out, the man following shortly afterward and looking into the crowded area. "Aiya. If there are any more people, we are going to tip over!" He said as he looked over the two additional members of their group.

"Hello to you China." Arthur said, accepting a bottle of water from Alfred as Feliciano began to again bring out the first aid kit. In response the Chinese man gave a short wave to greet the British and French personifications.

"How badly are you all hurt? I watch whole thing from window." He said, looking on in concern. "And what did you do to your arm America-aru?" He asked, eyeing the way Alfred continued to hold his upper arm tightly to try and stop the bleeding. "Aiya. So much for you continuing to row the boat." He said, shuffling between where Kiku sat and Romano stood to get closer to the new arrivals and the American.

"Ugh…" Romano moaned as he ended up having to cram himself against the side of the cabin. Alfred laughed at his grumpy face before a brief flicker of pain passed over his face.

"Nah, don't worry Yao. Give me some time and I'll be back to saving us soon enough." Alfred said, putting on his trademark Hollywood smile and using all the drama of Broadway to try and seem convincingly confident to put the others at ease. "But I'm with you on the whole overcrowded thing. I'm gonna head up with you and avoid playin' twister with everybody." He said, looking over once more to where Arthur and Francis lay on the small bed as they rested. Yao sighed but nodded anyway, leading the way back up to where the steering wheel and instruments were located.

"It will be night soon. Maybe then I can find us a way back to land by using the stars." Yao said as he helped bandage Alfred's arm, sending a sympathetic smile to the younger boy as he struggled to take care of himself with one hand. "You are doing well, America. I…thank you for helping us." He said, the American giving a small smile in return.

"Of course! That's what heroes do!" Alfred said, sitting down on the floor with a heavy sigh to rest. He may have gotten in a few hours earlier, but after pulling a stunt even Australia would've called risky, he was feeling completely exhausted and starving. His stomach growled to alert him to that as though he may have forgotten, Yao arching a brow at that in amusement.

"Stay here. I will go get something for us." He said with a chuckle. "Assuming you have enough food for us all. But then again, this is _you_ we are talking about." He said, earning an eye roll from Alfred despite both knowing that food was going to be an issue very soon – especially if navigation remained a concern and Alfred's arm put them at the complete mercy of wherever the waves wanted to bring the boat.


	5. Chapter 5

Antonio hadn't had the displeasure of experiencing such a surprise storm on a personal basis in what felt like centuries. Nonetheless, after it had cleared, he found himself bobbing around in open water with a boat that had clearly seen better days after holding up as best as it could with the sudden, dangerous weather change. He'd gone from his typical carefree mode to one that had made even Arthur wary at one point, his sailing prowess being put to the test in other ways.

As he was repairing his ship with an improvisation that was providing only limited results, he saw a flare go off. It took longer than he would have hoped to reach the spot he'd set his course on, but when he arrived, he saw the lopsided boat of the Baltics. Looking at the state of them, the earlier sabotage to their engine seemed puny in comparison.

"Oh, Mr. Spain…." Eduard said as he held onto Raivis as the smaller personification seemed to be having trouble keeping upright with the odd angle the ship continued to float at. "Would you mind giving us a hand for a moment, if it's not too much trouble?" The Estonian asked, his sailing mates looking just as worried about his response. "Only, it's not so much we can't…um…" He trailed began, trailing off as Antonio held up a hand to interrupt.

"Of course amigos. I'm not so sure I have much to offer by way of help, but my engine is still giving its all to keep working." Antonio said as he gestured to the back end of his ship, loud whirring noises heard as the engine precariously continued to work. "It may not be the most reliable at the moment, but compared to what happened to yours earlier…"

"Oh, we can fix it!" Raivis said with a smile, already shrugging off the Estonian man's stubborn hold on him as if not fully trusting the Latvian personification to keep from having his 'helpfulness' causing any additional trouble. "Our engine is okay, but we've sprung a leak below deck. We've stopped it up, but as you can see…" He continued to ramble, his characteristic of being overly honest about things habitually making the other two Baltics look around anxiously.

"Si. I can see." Antonio said, doing his best to angle his boat better to allow the other three to hop aboard. "If we team up, we should be able to get back to land sooner. Hopefully the others have already made their way back and are sending out help- we could definitely use it." He said, watching as the Latvian of the trio jumped on board his deck while the other two remained on their ship.

"Thank you Mr. Spain. Ah, we'll just get some of our things and head on board your ship, yes?" Toris said, looking back and forth between Antonio and Raivis as the boy walked over to their help. "We'll just be a moment." He said before disappearing along with Eduard to get their things. Within minutes, the three were safely on board the Spanish man's ship, tinkering with the engine to get it working again.

"It's not too bad." Eduard said as he looked it over, readjusting his glasses as he worked. "We're not exactly expert mechanics, but with the bunch of us, we should be able to figure something out. Do you have a manual or something, Mr. Spain?" He asked, Antonio scrunching up his face in thought.

"I am not sure. But if I have one, it should be this way." He said, gesturing for Eduard to follow him while Toris and Raivis remained to keep working on fixing the engine.

"It could be worse." Raivis said, looking over to Toris, the taller man giving a nod in agreement. "We could've ended up sinking completely or…" He said with a shiver, "….we could've been picked up by Ru..." He began to say, only to have Toris hastily clamp a hand over his mouth.

"Don't say his name!" He said in a panic, Raivis shoving the hand away from his mouth. "Who knows? You might just summon him here or something." Toris continued saying superstitiously as he shook a little like Raivis had done, prompting both men to warily look around as though expecting the feared man to suddenly pop out.

"Let's…let's just work on the engine." Toris suggested, Raivis nodding as the two lapsed into silence, both wondering what might have happened to Ivan and if it was actually possible for him to just magically appear. The unexpected popping noise from the engine as they stood next to one another didn't help, Raivis launching himself at Toris to hold onto him tightly.

The other two men were busy pulling out the manual from where Antonio had stuffed it, flipping through it to see if it could provide them with any clues on how to get their means of transport back to full working order. Sighing, Eduard handed the book back to Antonio as he realized he wouldn't be able to make sense of what was written since Spanish wasn't his forte.

"Ah, of course. I'll see what's in here then, hmm?" Antonio said, sitting down at the tiny table in his cabin and flipping through the pages again. "What was wrong with yours earlier?" The Spanish man asked for lack of anything better to fill the silence.

"Oh, there was…um….something had gotten stuck in one of the engine's chambers…." Eduard said with a nervous look again, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. "It….sort of looked like a bottle cap of some kind. Honestly, it could've happened to anyone and who knows how it could've happened…." He said, trailing off as he said much softer how said bottle cap had a familiar-looking symbol for a vodka company they knew preferred by a certain someone.

Antonio rolled his eyes at Ivan's antics, pushing the manual over to read aloud what looked like might be the problem, Eduard thinking it over as well. As they were about to head back to discuss their ideas with Toris and Raivis when the radio began to crackle and Ivan's voice drifted through it, causing Eduard to stiffen up.

"Ah, my friends, where are you? I thought I could sense you talking about me, kol kol kol." Ivan said, Eduard sprinting back to the other Baltics and leaving Antonio to talk with Ivan. Picking up the microphone, Antonio simply shook his head before responding to Ivan's continued calls for someone to answer, not as creeped out as the others by how it seemed the Russian knew exactly when they would be by the radio to answer.

"Hola amigo. It's Spain." Antonio said cheerfully as Ivan paused in his own 'cheerful' calling out. "I've got the Baltics with me since their ship was having some trouble and taking on water. We've some engine trouble and could use a little assistance if you are close." He said, both hoping for a yes and a no to Ivan being close enough to 'help'.

"The Nordics and I are within sight of land at the moment. The storm blew us all further north than expected, but I was able to swim to their ship and join them when mine caught fire." Ivan said, prompting Antonio to wonder just how that was possible. "It is a good thing I am such a strong swimmer. Finland was very happy to see me when I surprised him on deck, kol kol kol." He continued, leaving Antonio to imagine the state the startled Finn was in at having Ivan spontaneously show up next to him. _Then again_ , Antonio let his thoughts wander, _Tino handled Ivan better than most others and had managed to stand up to him occasionally._

"Um…okay then." Antonio said, not sure how to respond to that as he pulled himself back into the conversation. "Well, my plan is to start heading back with my engine the way it is for as far as this ship will take us. Luckily all the instruments are working so we should be able to meet up with you all soon enough." He said, ending on his typical upbeat note. "If you could let the others know where we are, that would be very much appreciated Russia. Can you pick up my boat or do I need to figure out coordinates for you?" He said, already looking to see what his instruments read.

"Nyet. I know where you are." Ivan said, Antonio further confused as to how that would be the case but wisely refraining from arguing about it with Russia. "We will meet up soon. Tell my friends that I will be waiting." He said, the radio cutting out to effectively signal to Antonio that Ivan was done talking.

The Spanish man looked curiously at the radio before trying a few more times to get someone, possibly one of the Nordics, to talk with him but it was apparent that Ivan had taken the radio as his personal toy while aboard the Scandinavian ship. Antonio checked the controls once more to make sure their course would bring them back to land, the thought of trying to contact help other than their fellow personifications passing through his mind. That was always an option too, but for the moment, Antonio thought it might be less stressful on the Baltics to make their way back slowly since it seemed there would be another member of their welcoming party to greet them.


	6. Chapter 6

Arthur groaned as his headache became more prominent as consciousness came back, groggily looking around through half-lidded eyes to realize that he'd passed out again at some point and had ended up beside Francis on the ship's small bed. Opening his eyes fully, he immediately attempted to scoot away from the man that he'd ended up throwing an arm around in his sleepy state, thanking God that Francis was too exhausted to be woken up by that action.

However, his head protested the movement, resulting in an involuntary groan making its way out of his mouth as he held his head in his hands. He opened the door to the bedroom to see what the situation was like, finding Kiku in the same spot as he'd glimpsed earlier, tinkering with the radio that had been taken apart and spread out on the table. Sensing another's presence, the Japanese man looked up and sent a small smile to his British friend.

"Good evening, Arthur-kun." He said, setting down the piece of equipment he had in his hand to give the other man his attention. "How are you feeling?" He asked politely, motioning to the remaining space open for Arthur to take a seat.

"Italy, ah, Feliciano, was a little nervous in treating you. Especially after you passed out and fell into him." He said, the memory vaguely coming back to Arthur of having the fidgeting Italian offering to help clean up and bandage his head injury. He'd had no other choice but to gratefully accept, only to have his vision start to fade and the last thing he remembered hearing was the familiar frightened shriek of the northern Italian as he pitched forward.

"Well, I will have to apologize for giving him that fright as soon as I see him." Arthur said, feeling the bandage on his forehead. "Speaking of which, where are those two? And Alfred?" He asked, Kiku having already gone back to looking over the damaged radio.

"North and South Italy are doing something with the engine, convinced it just needs to dry out some in order to get it working again. But that might be difficult since water keeps leaking onto it from the damaged deck." Kiku explained, earning himself a frustrated sigh from Arthur at that news.

"China-san is still with the instruments to try and figure out where we are. He believes he will be able to better once the stars are more visible. We will have to rely on the old methods since the instruments are not fully functioning yet and China's earlier readings are not comfortably reliable." He continued, accidentally dropping onto the floor one of the smaller pieces he was handling. He reached for it as best he could, but Arthur interjected before the Japanese man fell off the narrow couch.

"I'll get it Kiku. Don't aggravate your leg anymore." Arthur said, slowly leaning down to pick up the piece as his own injury made coordinated movement difficult.

"How did you end up with that injury, if you don't mind me asking?" Kiku asked as he took the piece from Arthur, the British man heading over to the fridge to see if there were any bottles of water to be had. He was relieved to see that Alfred had, predictably, had his ship well stocked with food and water. Taking one, he soothed his itchy throat by drinking a few gulps of much needed water before answering.

"The storm wreaked havoc on my ship. I'm not as used to the storms of the Pacific Ocean as you or China, nor was I prepared for one with the sailing boat I'd prepared for the race. But I saw Francis' boat nearby – I swear the bloody frog must've tied a rope to my ship to be able to keep up with me no matter what I did to be rid of him." He said with a tone more resigned than actually irritated given their situation.

"He radioed for assistance and I tried to get to him. But his boat lurched violently when a tall wave came out of nowhere, much like that blasted storm. I went out on deck to try and spot him when next I knew, I went face-first into, well, _something_." Arthur grumbled with a scowl on his face at his own inability to have handled that better.

"I suppose I'm damned lucky that wine-loving fool saw me and was able to get to me before I drowned. Still can't believe he was able to push me onto that piece of debris and had the sense to grab some of the sail to keep me from burning to a crisp." He said, voice getting softer as he thought about the effort the other man had put into caring for the Englishman. "Ugh…he's going to use this for _years_ to come in our arguments." He said, Kiku giving a short chuckle.

"I do not doubt it." The Japanese man agreed, realizing that he and his friend were in similar predicaments. He was certain Yao would be bringing up what happened between the two of them when their ships collided and Kiku had desperately clung to his older brother to survive. It was only a question of how long they would wait to regale the other personifications and of how long that story would remain circulating.

"Oh! Arfred-kun didn't come back down since he and Yao went up. Yao brought me the radio after he had apparently given up on it himself, but I haven't heard anything from our American friend." Kiku said, sounding apologetic.

"That's alright. I suppose I should head up there myself and see the damage." Arthur said, standing from his seat and holding onto the wall to steady himself. "I might be able to offer some assistance, or at least keep Alfred entertained so Yao can manage something." He said with a smirk as he left Kiku to continue rebuilding the radio.

Arthur slowly climbed up to where the steering wheel and other instruments were located on the damaged ship. He swore a few times as his body protested movement, clearly signaling to the Chinese man that he was approaching as he found Yao grumbling about him moving around as he helped steady the island nation.

"Hello China." Arthur said as he attempted to stand straight like usual. But the Chinese man only rolled his eyes. "I thought I'd see how things were coming along. If I might be able to offer you a hand." He said, Yao merely shaking his head at Arthur's stubbornness.

"I do not suppose if I said you would help by going back to bed, you would do so?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest. Arthur smirked at the other man before giving his reply.

"You could ask, but there happens to be a Frenchman in that bed at the moment." He said, Yao rolling his eyes as he turned to walk back over to the map he had spread out over the small table next to him.

Arthur followed him with his eyes as he leaned against where Yao had more or less propped him up against the window, finally noticing Alfred asleep on the floor. "Good God!" Arthur exclaimed, pushing himself off the wall to walk over to his younger brother as quickly as he could. He dropped to his knees, inspecting the red bandage around his arm before brushing a hand gently over Alfred's forehead.

"You will wake him up." Yao said, coming back over to pry Arthur away from Alfred. "He has lost a lot of blood. I have tried to stop the bleeding but we do not have all the supplies to sew him back up and it occasionally still bleeds. Let him sleep so our natural healing abilities can repair his arm enough so he can row us back to land." He said, Arthur scowling as he looked back to the Chinese man.

"You're just going to let him bleed out on the floor?" Arthur asked in a tone that Yao considered overly dramatic, the British man eyes quickly darting back over to the sleeping Alfred.

"You of all people, Yao, should know that it takes a while for that to kick in. Kiku will take several weeks or more to have his leg healed completely if he doesn't get additional treatment. Alfred may be a large and powerful nation, but even he will take a while. Especially if you can't get the bleeding to stop." Arthur rambled, pausing only when his head throbbed.

"I _do_ know that, Arthur-aru, but rest is the only way to give that process a chance to start." Yao said, taking Arthur by the shoulders. "If that shark damaged an artery or something, he needs to keep calm so we can do what we can for him. If he's constantly awake, that won't happen. You know he's going to be back to pushing the boat along as soon as we have a proper heading." Yao said in as placating a manner as he could.

"So in the meantime, Arthur-aru, let him sleep. He really is our best bet at getting all of us – _and him_ – back to proper help." Yao finished with a strong look, Arthur swallowing thickly at the other's sound reasoning. The British man gave a small nod, feeling as though Yao was treating him like a child with the way he held him and spoke to him. But at the moment, with his head throbbing painfully, he just let that go unmentioned - especially since Yao was prone to occasional bursts when he would speak to _everyone_ like they were children compared to him.

"At least let go of me so I can look him over." Arthur said, Yao sighing but complying with Arthur's request. Arthur carefully sat next to where Alfred lay, looking over his injured arm to see that Yao must've changed the bandages a few times to cover the deep gash.

That detail made his thoughts wander to other concerns. "How much of the medical supplies do we have left? He'll need more bandages at some point and food." He said, Yao rubbing his forehead as he thought over what he had clearly been pondering himself for a while.

"There's not much left in the kits with half of us needing to use the two of them." Yao answered, not looking at Arthur. "As for food, with the seven of us, it probably won't last more than a few days at best – fewer with the amount that Alfred needs to eat. And he won't if he learns what's left." Yao said, Arthur unable to help gently running a hand along the side of the American's face as he noticed how much paler Alfred looked than usual.

"I had to force him to eat all of the food I brought up here earlier. And I'm not letting either of the Italys come up here to see Alfred, since it would only cause those two children to run around in a panic like chickens." Yao sighed with a shake of his head, although Arthur had to agree that the Italy brothers would most likely let their panic get the better of them for a while if they thought their rescuer wasn't going to be able to get them all the way back to land.

"Hopefully, Kiku will be able to radio for help shortly and we won't have to worry about ensuring Alfred's up to being the engine for the ship." Arthur said, confident that the Japanese man might make some progress on that particular project. "Or the engine can be fixed fixed once it's dried out." He suggested, although the level of confidence in that suggestion wasn't quite there.

"I wouldn't put it past either Feliciano or Romano to be able to just sprint on top of the water at the speed they can run away if I maybe scare them enough." Arthur continued with a small laugh, Yao giving out a chuckle as well as he walked over to the window to look at the sky.

After that though, there really wasn't much more to be said as they tried not to focus too much on their grim circumstances. Yao and Arthur worked to figure out just how far they may have drifted in relation to where they knew land was supposed to be on the map Alfred had, coming up with some promising results as it got later in the night. As they worked, a groan interrupted the silence and had them both looking over to see that Alfred had woken up and was propping himself up.

"Easy lad. Can't have you hurting yourself any further." Arthur said as he knelt next to his brother, Alfred still in the process of waking up. "You should probably just get some more sleep Alfred." He said, easing the younger man back down to the floor, this time guiding Alfred so that the American was resting his head in Arthur's lap.

"But how are you doin'? Yao told me you fainted onto Feli…" Alfred said with a snicker, no doubt regretting that he had missed that particular show. "And Francis?" He asked, Arthur understanding what Alfred meant.

"Other than a little dehydrated and showing off a rosey shade of red, Francis is fine. Last I left him, he was shaking a little from the fever that sunburn caused, but he'll be back to his annoying ways in no time." Arthur said with a small smile.

He hoped that answer would ease Alfred's compulsion to be the hero so as to allow him to get his own much needed rest. Already he could see that the bandages were getting redder around his arm, and Arthur was doing his best to avoid bringing to Alfred's attention the fact that the floor next to him wasn't wet with just water alone.

"Oh, good. You're okay?" Alfred said, opening his eyes to gaze up in concern for his brother, softening the British man's look too.

"Yes, Alfred. I've had to deal with splitting headaches before." Arthur said as he gently and subconsciously ran his hand through Alfred's hair. "Usually _you've_ done something to cause them, but I suppose you can have a pass this time. Unless you did some rain dance and made it storm…" Arthur teased, Alfred weakly smiling back at the older man.

"Nah. You and your hocus pocus must've done it." Alfred said around a yawn. "Man, why am I so tired? The hero needs to get back to savin' everybody…" He complained, Arthur placing an arm gently over Alfred's shoulders to make sure he got the message to not even think about getting up yet.

"You've done a lot of hero work. You're just tired." Arthur said, doing his best to sound unconcerned about the fact that Alfred was apparently losing his energy. "You'll be back to running about as soon as China and I have figured out for certain whereabouts we are." He said, Alfred closing his eyes and giving a sleepy 'mmm hmmm' in response.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll just take another five minutes." Alfred said, Arthur convinced the younger man was already asleep mid-word by the end of his brief statement. The British man sighed as he took in the change in their situation with Alfred out of commission to push them, literally, back to civilization.

A sudden thought came to mind as Arthur sat with his brother, the British personification glancing back over to where Yao was trying to still see their map in the limited light the backup lanterns Alfred had stored below had provided.

"Yao, can you go see if Francis is up? Ask him if he has his small sewing kit that he always has in his pocket in case of fashion emergencies." He said, earning a confused look from the older man. "He'll deny he has such a thing, but if it wasn't washed out of his pocket while we floated about all day, then tell him I need to use it." He said as Yao picked up the lantern to get closer to Arthur.

"And what exactly do you plan on doing with it Arthur?" Yao said, although Arthur was fairly certain that the Chinese man knew exactly where Arthur was going with this train of thought. "In case you didn't notice, it is too dark to see what you are doing, assuming he even has that still." He said, Arthur huffing in irritation.

"I am aware, Yao. But Alfred's losing too much blood if we continue to just keep wrapping up his arm. We need to sew the wound closed so it doesn't keep opening up with every little movement he makes." Arthur said as he tried to argue his case to the other man to just do as he asked. "I don't think he's had his artery sliced open, but it's a deep cut and even with his fast healing, we should try and speed things along as best we can. It'll keep him from getting ill too." He said as calmly as he could to avoid rousing Alfred out of his sleep.

Yao held the other man's gaze for a moment before looking back down at Alfred and sighing. "Very well Britain. I'll wake up France to see if he has this sewing kit. But we wait until morning so we don't make it worse. He should be alright until then. It's not as bad as it looks." Yao said, standing up. "We may even be rescued before we need to do something like that. But this still is assuming he both has a needle and thread and that there is enough thread to stitch up everything." He said, Arthur internally agreeing with the man.

"Well we'll learn that as soon as you find out if he even has it. Just go ask Yao." Arthur said as he was getting increasingly irritated with the other man's lack of apparent urgency.

"Fine, fine. I'm going." Yao said. "But I'm not giving it to you even if he does – not tonight. We both should get some sleep since it will most likely be me having to sew him up. You have concussion and I have most medical experience out of everyone." He said, going down the ladder before Arthur could respond to that comment. Arthur grumbled at the usual remark of Yao's regarding inventing medicine (a trait he denied sharing with a certain Korean family member fond of claiming invention of everything...). But the English man decided to make himself comfortable, shifting a little and checking to be sure that the movement hadn't disturbed Alfred, opted to try and rest a little as well until one of the other unwilling occupants showed up to interrupt his dozing.


	7. Chapter 7

The Nordics were sitting together back at the resort Alfred had set up for all those involved with the race. Or at least, the majority of them were sitting around with a cold drink to help feel better after the storm. They'd been in the lead for the most of the race, although they'd spotted Arthur and Francis nearby a few times and had been on the lookout for Alfred. Somehow through their combined efforts at seafaring, they'd secured their ship and were heading back to shore in case the storm wasn't done when a squeak from Tino brought them all to the awareness that Ivan had joined their group.

It didn't take long for the Russian to assume control of the radio and to start assessing who was accounted for and who was not. With all the added chaos of the other personifications bombarding them with questions as soon as they were back on shore, they'd ended up lingering by the docks for too long for Sweden to handle. The large man had, inevitably it seemed, started to teeter from the heat and had sagged into Norway's side.

As much as Tino fussed to get Berwald to actually leave him alone to work with Ivan and the others' rescue efforts, the Swedish man had ended up stubbornly refusing to let the Finnish man out of his sight with Ivan lingering so close. This meant that the group had gone back to the hotel to use its lobby as a sort of base to organize efforts to determine how to go about looking for the others – Sweden with a very large, very cold glass of water and more asleep than awake while he sat with Norway, Iceland, and Denmark as Finland joined the others in discussing possibilities of going after their missing friends.

"I still say we should, like, totally just head out right now!" Feliks was saying to an equally worried but more composed German man. Ludwig just set his jaw tighter to refrain from hitting the Polish man for his apparent inability to contribute anything else otherwise.

"For the last time Poland…We need to determine where the others _might_ have been so we don't just go off in the opposite direction and lose valuable time." Ludwig said, Feliks huffing and crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to mutter about how much time was already being lost that he could've spent looking for Lithuania.

"Do not worry Poland. I spoke with Spain on our way back to shore and he has our friend with him." Ivan said cheerfully, although that didn't seem to ease the tension in Feliks' shoulders. "I was able to figure out how far away from our boat his was with the locator from the radio." He said before chuckling a little. "But I always know where my friends are." He said, smiling.

Feliks eyed him warily at that statement, although he knew just how Russia kept a close watch on his 'friends', especially Lithuania. It was the fact that he appeared to just magically know that was the most unsettling, even to Ludwig who just cleared his throat to get everyone's attention back to the topic at hand.

"Well, we need to have somebody here to wait for Spain and the Baltics to show up like Mr. Russia explained." Tino said to the group, the others sure who would volunteer to wait for that group. "You said they were having engine trouble though, right?" He asked as he looked to the Russian man.

Ivan nodded in response. "Da. But I am sure Lithuania and the others will find a way to fix it." He said as though enjoying some inside joke. Tino simply took a couple of steps away from Ivan, only to have the other man follow anyway, Norway tugging on Sweden's arm to keep the giant of a man from confronting the equally gargantuan Ivan.

"Still no response from any of the others, eh?" Matthew asked, earning a jump from the others who had clearly not noticed him. "Alfred's not one to keep quiet. Something must've happened. The same probably goes for the others." He continued to speak, ignoring the questions of who he was and whether or not he was some sort of clone Alfred had made of himself. But he was undeterred since he'd had plenty of experience with search and rescue too, having had the sense to notify the proper authorities while the others had dropped into the usual routine of not getting much done right away.

"I agree with…er...him." Ludwig was saying, gesturing over to where Matthew was standing in lieu of trying to remember his name. "If none of the others are able to answer and Ivan cannot trace them, we can only go from the last position anyone saw of them before heading out. We'll break into groups…" Ludwig continued, delving into the usual well-organized layout for plans that the others thought the man must do even in his sleep with the passion he had for organization.

"We will split up. The Nordics and Russia have volunteered to wait for Spain and the others to arrive however fast their engine will take them here granted they run into no further problems. If we're lucky, they'll arrive before we head out." Ludwig said, Poland one again interrupting.

"Like, I need to stay here too then." He said, glancing over to Ivan to indicate to Ludwig what he meant, the German man sighing as the smaller man stood firm.

"Um…Mr. Germany…." Tino began, not sure if he really wanted to be the one to cause the other man to snap and start shouting out orders military-style as often happened when pushed too far. But Ludwig just looked to him, choosing to either ignore or just not argue with Feliks anymore.

"I don't plan on waiting around here. I'll be more help going out with you guys." Tino announced, this time Sweden successfully shook off Norway's grip to walk over to the Finnish man and pull him aside. As soon as they were a good distance away for some attempt at privacy, Sweden leaned closer to Finland to talk with him, the smaller man hastily shooting out an arm to catch the still unsteady Swede.

"Wait with me." Berwald said, his eyes telling more than his words as he looked at the Finnish man, Tino sending a small smile back at him. "Yer still as shaken as the others from the storm." He said, having noted the heightened level of jitteriness that Tino had.

"Berwald, you know as well as I do that we've gone through storms like that before and not had these luxuries to come back to immediately." The Finnish personification said. "I'll be fine. Sitting here will only make me more anxious, unless…." He said, his confident tone trailing off as he looked over the other Scandinavian. "…Do you need me to stay? Are you alright?" He asked, internally berating himself for acting as though he was completely overlooking the health and safety of Berwald in favor of his own need to keep busy.

But Berwald gave his signature barely-there smile to reassure the smaller man. "'M fine. A little too hot for me. And you." He said with a pointed look to let Tino know it hadn't escaped his attention that the Finnish man was also clearly uncomfortable the past couple of days in this heat.

They had pushed for Alfred to allow them and Arthur to come up with the location since it had been the British man and Dane that had gotten into the discussion of naval prowess in the first place, but the prospect of a tropical getaway ultimately won out until they'd arrived to learn that there had been a heat wave recently. "Ask Denmark to go instead if you want constant updates." Berwald suggested, earning a snicker from Tino.

"And have them have to stop every time he falls overboard?" Tino asked, motioning with his head to where the Danish man sat with three beers in front of him and two already empty glasses. He had taken the offer of 'complimentary refreshments' by the staff to accommodate them after hearing and seeing the extent of what had occurred from the storm, to be a challenge of sorts to see how quickly he could become completely drunk. Looking back to Berwald, Tino laughed again when the other man gave a small shrug.

"Just because _we_ did doesn't mean _they'd_ have to go back fer him." He said, Tino playfully smacking him on the arm as he laughed again.

"That's mean Berwald!" The Finnish man said, although he was grateful that the mood between them wasn't so tense. "Anyway, I told you I'll be fine and if you want, I'll keep you updated hourly. You can stay with the others to wait and monitor the area in case the others somehow manage to make it back without us noticing them." He said, Berwald giving a small sigh and looking as defeated as his typically stoic expression allowed.

With that apparently settled, Tino walked back over to the table where the other Nordics sat with Berwald, attempting to discreetly look over the tall man in case he was still lightheaded and keeping it to himself again. Iceland and Norway sent identical looks of tested patience as Berwald sat back down in his chair heavily, Denmark raising his glass to Finland as he walked back over to where the other personifications were still huddled in discussion.

"Alright, then it is settled." Ludwig said in a tone that exuded finality as Tino rejoined the group. "We will split up then and head out in two hours since it is almost dawn already. If Spain and the others are not back by then, we will start searching in these general areas." He said, Tino noticing that at some point a map had been pulled out and marked with red pen that the German man must've carried on him.

"I will go with my bruder – _if he ever shows up again_ – with Hungary and Austria to this area. Canada and Hong Kong will take this area with Finland. Once you're confident that the Baltics and Spain are alright, Poland will go with whomever else is able to head out to look. Australia is offering to assist and look in this area so report to him if you still want to be a part of the search. No questions? Good." Ludwig said, standing straight and giving an about-face to go look for the missing Prussian whom he was confident was still by the pool asleep from where he'd spent the day lounging about and 'showing off his awesomeness'.


	8. Chapter 8

Francis had woken up laughing as something tickled his side, blinking open his eyes to see Yao fumbling through the pockets in his pants. Seeing that he had woken the blonde up, Yao leaned back so that Francis could sit up on his own.

"Good. You are up now. How is fever?" He asked more to himself as he placed a hand on the Frenchman's forehead and giving a satisfied noise at finding that it had significantly dropped with the rest. "Arthur is wondering if you still have sewing kit – and yes, he knows you carry it around like he carries his needlepoint." Yao said with an eye-roll at how alike the two could be sometimes.

"Why…ugh…" Francis started to ask as he stood up, only to have his back pop from being stiff. Yao shot him a sympathetic look, knowing how that could be and understanding that it was probably due to floating all day draped over Arthur and then sharing the bed with said British man that left no room for the taller man.

"Why does 'e need it _now_? I of all people can understand a concern to maintain one's appearance but…" He began, Yao not in the mood to let him ramble as he wanted nothing more than to get some much needed sleep as well.

"Alfred needs to be stitched up soon. He is not looking so good right now and we'll need him to be able to do anything other than drift aimlessly." He said, Francis' eyes widening at the news. He patted his pockets to see if he had the kit with him, giving out a small 'ah ha' as he produced it to hand over to Yao. It was still damp, but needle and thread were still there so it was as useful as it could be.

"But how do you propose to keep notre cher Alfred _still_ long enough for you or Arthur to sew him back up? Assuming there is enough thread to do the job." Francis asked as he followed Yao, the older man heading back out to where Kiku was sleepily still working.

He stepped over where Feliciano and Romano had decided to sleep on the floor, reluctant to head out onto the deck should another unpredicted storm take them by surprise. Francis followed, watching as Yao grabbed the small bottle of rubbing alcohol to sterilize the needle as best he could, trying not to trip as Feliciano moved slightly in his sleep. But it seemed Yao chose to ignore that question for now, Francis sighing and looking over to Kiku to check on the other man.

"Any progress on that radio Ja-" Francis began only to have the usually stoic man seem to give a growl of frustration as he slammed an open palm onto the table, making a few of the pieces shake and causing Yao to steady the things he'd been holding.

"I can only do so much with broken pieces. Everyone needs to stop asking when I'll fix it. Broke is broke!" Kiku said before sighing and rubbing his hands across his face. "I apologize France-san. I am just…irritable. My leg is still bothering me and it does not seem I can do much with what I have. I would need to see if I can do something with the other instruments and maybe pull something together with them." He said, rubbing his injured leg.

His raised voice had evidently unsettled the Italians, although neither man needed to worry too much about them waking up as Feliciano just pulled his brother tighter to him and Romano complied in his sleep by wrapping a protective arm around his younger brother as they lay on the floor. Francis snickered as he watched the two of them, knowing Romano would vehemently deny any such affectionate actions and then likely call Francis a pervert for watching him sleep.

"You can only work with what you have Kiku. I'm sure after some real rest, you might have a clearer head." Francis said, Kiku sighing and leaning back against the wall to try and relax a little more. Yao had finished up with the needle, allowing the thread to soak in the alcohol for a while before doing anything else.

Seeing the way the man held himself, Francis once more decided to take charge. "Why don't you stay with Kiku to make sure he does not overwork himself? I will go up and keep watch in case we need to be prepared for anything else nature decides to throw at us." He said, Yao giving a small nod around a yawn.

"Britain-aru is up with America. I will need to get some rest if I'm going to try and patch the big idiot together tomorrow." Yao said, although the usual barb at America was softened given the circumstances and the exhaustion that they all were feeling. "We cannot do anything else anyway. Britain and I believe we may have figured out which direction we need to go but the Italys have determined that they cannot do much more for the engine. We're either going to have to wait for who knows how long for a glimpse of help and fire off that flare gun…" He said, Francis nodding as he followed the other man's train of thought.

"…or we'll need to rely on America not moving too much right away to give his arm a chance to heal enough for him to at least hold the paddle and give us some momentum." Yao finished, sounding more and more tired as he spoke. Francis chose to give him a simple pat on the shoulder before gesturing to the bed and exiting the crowded area of the boat, climbing up to where Arthur and Alfred were supposed to be.

Upon entering the section with the wheel and other instruments, Francis couldn't help but let out a little gasp at seeing the two tucked away as they were. Both were sound asleep despite what Yao had said, Arthur's hand still in Alfred's hair from where he'd obviously been caressing the boy in an act of comfort to him or possibly to both of them.

Francis approached as quietly as he could with the lantern he'd taken from Yao to halt any protest the other might have made. As much as the Frenchman would have liked nothing more than to indulge in some more beauty sleep, he also didn't like the idea of the ship having no one keeping watch on it while it was already significantly broken. _And if I'm being honest_ , he thought, _how much more improvement could there be to my stunningly handsome looks?_

But he knew that he was also likely quite a sight with peeling reddened skin from his prolonged sunbathing, Francis deciding not to dwell too much on that. Choosing not to immediately wake the other man, although he was concerned about his possible concussion, Francis settled himself on the stool next to the table that Yao had spread the map out on earlier.

He could see the marks he and Arthur must've scribbled as they worked to determine the direction to attempt to set the boat on once they could with Alfred's help, the Frenchman going over it himself to keep track of how far they might drift in the meantime. He had to fight off sleep for the next few hours as his head drooped along with his eyelids.

But dawn eventually came and so did the grumblings from below as Romano apparently woke up to find to his displeasure he'd been cuddling with his brother. Francis couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him as he then heard scuffling as he could imagine Feliciano either continuing to cling and plead for more cuddling or by cowering and trying to get some distance between him and his irate brother.

"Hmmm?" Arthur groaned as the yelling woke him up, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the early morning sunlight as he tried to get his bearings. "Oh, yes…I was rather hoping it was all a ridiculous nightmare." He said with a wince and shifting a little before remembering his brother in his lap who hadn't stirred despite the ruckus that both Europeans worried might rock the boat more than it could handle.

"If only, mon ami, if only." Francis said, standing up and stretching as he made his way over to kneel next to Arthur. "Is your head feeling any better?" Francis asked as he raised a hand as though to gently touch the bandages to see for himself that state of Arthur's injuries, but the British man grouchily swatted his hand away.

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you." Arthur said a little stiffly, receiving an unamused scowl from Francis that made him feel a little guilty. "Ahem…I'm doing better, Francis. It's not going to be healed overnight but…I'm here to complain so I can't say too much about it." He said to the Frenchman in a softer tone, seeing Francis' expression become less tense as well. Both knew that now was not the time to have one of their usual squabbles with the urgency of the situation.

"But it's Alfred we should be focusing on. The git tore his arm pretty good when he decided to go shark wrestling and we need to repair it somehow or we're more or less just drifting about the Pacific Ocean in a crowded lifeboat with no phone signal, no working radio, and a rapidly dwindling supply of food and fresh water." Arthur grumbled as he looked back down to the pale American who had begun to stir a little in his lap at the outburst, Francis rolling his eyes.

"Oui. Yao is, or _was_ , getting some sleep to help take care of this." Francis said to the other man as he ran a hand across his face tiredly. "He's letting the needle and thread he plans on using soak in the rubbing alcohol to try and sterilize it as best he can. But you know as well as I do that the thread isn't going to hold for very long once he starts rowing us back to shore." He said with a pointed look.

That earned a small sigh and nod from Arthur as the other man went back to gently running his fingers through Alfred's hair as the younger man slept. "And I don't think I need to mention that out of all of us, he's going to need to eat a lot more than what we have – but he won't. As much as he loves food, his hero complex will win out to make sure we all eat something."

Arthur nodded again before wincing as the movement irritated his head. "Yes. Which is why we probably shouldn't tell him how much we've got left so he doesn't give us some ridiculous response about how 'the hero's supposed to take care of everybody' and refuse to eat what he needs." He said as he looked back up at Francis.

"I don't suppose Yao's up for this yet either. The poor man only got a few hours last night, or so I guess. I'm afraid I drifted off not too long after Alfred woke up again in the middle of the night. The blood loss is making his sleep not as restful as it should be." Arthur remarked, inspecting the bandage in the hopes that the bleeding had stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed that it seemed like it had at some point in the night, silently grateful for the American's strength as it seemed he was beginning to heal – although sewing him back up was definitely something that still needed to be done.

"Well, if we're going to do this, I do believe we will be needing all of us to hold our friend still long enough." Francis said, Arthur mentally wincing at how rough it was going to be to convince Alfred to let them help him. "Unless we want to try and do this while he is still asleep?" He suggested, Arthur giving a shrug in response.

"I suppose we should give that a try. But get the Italys up here too so we can put up some fight when he decides to toss us off him like a bull at one of his rodeos." Arthur said, Francis tightly smiling at the attempt to inject some lightheartedness into their situation before he went to retrieve the Italy brothers.

It had taken longer than Francis had thought to pull the two away from trying to make a 'suitable breakfast' in their stubbornness over food that neither Francis nor Yao could honestly criticize without sounding incredibly hypocritical. But after the brothers had eaten a rationed amount of food, along with Yao munching on something to give him some energy, they headed back up to find Arthur had fallen asleep again while waiting for Francis to return.

The Frenchman gently nudged Arthur awake, any apology for having to do so quickly dying on his lips as Arthur instinctively began spewing profanities at the other in protest at being awakened. But the blush on his cheeks as Romano grumbled out something that sounded suspiciously to Arthur like a 'well done' earned Arthur only a fond shake of the Frenchman's head.

"Alright, let's do this quickly." Yao said, holding his things away from Francis when the Frenchman offered to do the job instead. "I am older than all of you. I have the most experience in medicine so I am best one to be doing the job." He huffed, the others in the room rolling their eyes at the statement.

They could only imagine what Kiku might have responded with if he'd been with them, the Japanese man only semi-awake to witness the sunrise spectacle that was Lovino and Feliciano. The thought briefly passed through Arthur's mind that the Japanese personification was likely going to be in for an equally confusing wake-up call once Alfred realized what was going on.

Taking a deep breath before he began, Yao looked steadily at the others as they each positioned themselves to be able to brace for when Alfred protested, Feliciano choosing to essentially just sit on Alfred's legs. Seeing the others prepared, he began to undo the bandages.

He'd almost gotten to the point where he could start stitching the wound when Alfred began to twitch as he registered something going on around him. Arthur took to petting his hair again in an attempt to soothe him back into sleep, but the damage was done as soon as Yao decided to go with the approach of doing this as fast as possible. He'd gotten through a few stitches before Alfred's eyes flew open and he tried to jerk his arm away.

"Ghh…wha….get offa me!" Alfred grumbled, Feliciano whining as Alfred attempted to kick his legs and had lifted him up off the floor. "Nghh…st-stop…I'm….grrr…." Alfred protested before shouting loudly as Yao rushed to finish what he could with the length of thread he had to use.

"Alfred, idiot, stop thrashing. It's for your own good!" Arthur said as he pressed down firmly on his brother's shoulder to keep him from sitting up. Yao grumbled as he had to pause a few times when Alfred moved too much.

"Ugh…you are big baby! Be a man!" Yao barked out to Alfred, hoping an insult to the ever child-like personification's manliness would get him to think clearly through his pained and exhausted mind. "Your brother is right. This is for you…and….so you help us…." He said, struggling to hold Alfred's arm still. Alfred paused for a moment, just long enough for Francis to secure his hold on the American's shoulder to keep him from lashing out anymore even if he wanted to.

"Come now Alfred. It's alright." Arthur tried again, this time in a less harsh tone and succeeding in getting Alfred to look directly at him. "It's alright. Hold still and it'll be over before you know it. This is just to help speed things up a bit so we can all get back to land soon enough." He said, Alfred taking a short breath and wincing as Yao took that opportunity to finish up with what was left of the thread. Alfred turned his head toward Arthur to avoid watching Yao work, the British man continuing to speak softly to Alfred as the younger blonde stopped trying to fling the others off of him.

"Ve~….can we get off now?" Feliciano timidly asked as Yao finished up with tying off the thread, grimacing at the still nasty looking slash in Alfred's arm.

Francis' kit didn't exactly have the kind of thread necessary to hold together such a gash, but it seemed Alfred was just lucky enough to avoid having his arm mangled when he punched the shark like he did. While not completely closed, Yao had sewn together the most severe and deepest portion of the injury and Alfred could feel like his arm wasn't about to fall off from burning so much.

"Oui, Feli…I think it's safe for you and your brother to get off his legs now." France replied, seeing as Yao was back to bandaging the wound with the supplies they had left and Arthur was too focused on keeping Alfred calm.

Both Italys immediately sprang up and away from Alfred, obviously wanting nothing more than to just keep away after seeing all that. It was only when Feliciano turned to cling to his older brother that anyone noticed the bloody nose Romano was sporting.

"Oh! How did that happen?" Feliciano asked, making as though to reach out and touch the injury but Romano pulled back.

"How do you think it happened stupido? Damn bastard kneed me in the face with all his squirming and shi-…ow! Santa Maria, madre di Dio!Gesù Cristo!" Romano began, only to start sputtering in pain when Feliciano unexpectedly reached forward and quickly pushed against his brother's nose so that everyone heard it snap back into place from where Alfred had accidentally hit it.

"Sorry, sorry….Germany did that for me once and it felt better shortly afterward. I thought I'd do it quick so it …ah! Don't hit me!" Feliciano said, eyes opening in fear as his brother growled and lunged at him, prompting him to squirm out of the way to flee from his irate brother.

Francis and Yao both reminded them that there was not enough room for them to do that in the space they were in, Francis shielding Alfred's outstretched arm before either one of them tripped over it and tore the stiches sooner than Alfred was sure to.

"It's only because I love you fratellone!" Feliciano exclaimed as he climbed down the ladder to head out onto the deck.

"Si? Well love hurts. Come here and let-a me show you!" Romano grumbled as he followed his younger brother, one hand still clutched around his nose. Alfred snickered at the sight of them before attempting to sit up.

"Whoa. Easy Alfred." Arthur said as he helped guide the superpower into a sitting position without aggravating his arm. "You should just rest a bit before you do anything." He said, Alfred leaning into him and giving a nod.

"I know. I wanna head below to get a drink or somethin'. Bed sounds good if nobody's in it right now." Alfred said, blue eyes looking as imploringly to Arthur as ever when Alfred decided to use the 'kicked puppy dog' look.

"Is not a bad idea, Alfred-aru." Yao said, handing the sewing kit back to Francis who took it with a hesitant look that clearly indicated he was not planning on keeping this particular needle for quick clothes repairs after seeing it used for something else.

"But can we carry him down without tearing the stitches? There are still too fresh to move about." Francis said, Alfred huffing at that remark as he struggled to stand on his own. Arthur once again scolded him for not listening as he protested such movement with only marginal success.

"I'm the hero. Heroes don't get carried around like damsels in distress." Alfred grumbled, although the paleness of his face and lethargic movements didn't quite match the tone he was trying to convey. "I can walk just fine." He said, Arthur having given up on keeping him still and opting to hover close by in case Alfred tipped at all. But they all had to admit that he was doing well for someone who'd kept making his wound bleed again periodically throughout the night.

Alfred managed to stumble below deck where an obviously concerned and confused Kiku was waiting for someone to come to tell him what was going on. Seeing this, Alfred gave a small nod to his friend as Francis took the lead in assisting Alfred to his bed, the American sighing in relief at the softness.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on? I heard Arfred-kun's terrible yells and then I heard the Italys running about on deck." Kiku said, readjusting his position on the couch to angle himself to talking with the others better. "Are they still there?" He asked, wondering if the quiet from the two of them could mean any more issues to worry about – namely if they'd managed to toss themselves overboard by accident.

"I'll go see if they are still conscious." Yao said with a sigh from where he was lingering in the entryway to the living area of the boat, turning to head back out on deck to check on them. Kiku watched him leave before turning back to see Francis and Arthur tend to a grumbling Alfred, Francis grabbing some food and water to bring over to the American.

Arthur shot a worried look to the Japanese man that silently communicated the concern over their supply of food. They'd been adrift for less than a full day, but with so many on board the small boat, the supplies were being polished off quickly.

"Here Angleterre." Francis said, handing over what he had in his hands to the other man. "I'll see if I can help Yao. There should be a decent amount of sleep shared between the two of us and who better than moi for you to place your trust in to get us home?" He said with a smile, the British man rolling his eyes and giving a friendly huff at the attempt to keep things relatively sane between them.

"Besides..." Francis continued,"... _I_ am taking the easier task. Bon chance avec lui." He said as he gestured to Alfred, Arthur nodding at the daunting task of making sure Alfred took care of himself. With that Francis left, sharing a brief conversation with Kiku who asked to have some help later on getting to the other instruments to try and fashion together whatever still worked to fix the radio.

"Have a drink first Alfred before you get some sleep." Arthur said as he held out one of the three remaining water bottles. "You lost a lot of blood the other day. You need something to replenish yourself."

Alfred groggily took the bottle from Arthur, taking a few sips before handing it back to the British man. "Nah, save the food. I'm just gonna take a nap for a few minutes. Then I'll start rowing us back as soon as one of ya points me in the right direction." He muttered, but Arthur shoved the package of food back into Alfred's face.

"If you don't put fuel in the engine, it doesn't work. And it appears you're going to be our engine, so eat up lad." Arthur said, Alfred sighing and readjusting how he lay to take the food. He fumbled with the plastic packaging with one hand as he tried to not move his other arm so much, but it was clear he was having some trouble.

He resorted to trying to use his teeth but Arthur snatched it away from him to open it for him. Alfred scowled at Arthur for what he considered to be him treating him like a child again, but catching the look from Kiku as the other watched the exchange, he silently took the offered food. Alfred made short work of his snack, letting his head fall back onto the pillow as he rested some more, giving a little shiver.

"Is it me, or did the Pacific get colder since I fell asleep?" Alfred asked as he did his best to cover himself with the blankets, his injured arm kept close to his side as he moved. Arthur immediately worked to help his younger brother, tucking him in as though he was a toddler again.

"That's what happens when you let a shark take a bite out of you." Arthur grumbled, the worry evident to Kiku as he listened into their conversation. "You'll get warm soon enough once you've got a little more blood running through you and not out your arm." He said as he watched Alfred snuggle with the blankets.

"Yeah, well, I'm cold now." He said, yawning and burrowing his face into the pillow. "And you're welcome bro. It's what heroes do." He said, although it was said around a yawn and muffled by a pillow. He was quiet after that, leaving Arthur with a frustrated blush on his face as he stood next to the bed.

He looked over to Kiku before shooting a look to the other and shutting the door to the bedroom portion of the cabin. Reminded of the time Alfred had taken Arthur's complaint about being cold to mean he wanted Alfred to cuddle with him, Arthur decided to climb into the tiny bed as well to help Alfred warm up. "Uh…what are you doin'?" Alfred asked in a wary tone, Arthur feeling his face flush even more.

"You're not the only one with an injury Alfred." Arthur said, proud of himself for the quick save rather than admitting that he thought Alfred was asking for someone to cuddle with him. "The bed was big enough for Francis and I to sleep on so it should be big enough for the both of us, assuming you don't decide to sleep in the shape of a starfish." He said, smirking at the sleepy noise of protest that came from the younger man. Alfred slowly shifted a little to give Arthur some more room before he promptly fell asleep next to his older brother.


	9. Chapter 9

Antonio had only just arrived back on land as soon as the sun came up thanks to his engine giving out a few times. He and the Baltics had been able to finally contact someone on land and had been met by rescue personnel shortly afterward, slowly but surely trudging back to land. The Baltics had requested that they return to retrieve their ship, clearly hoping that it hadn't sunk while they'd worked with the Spanish personification to safely reach shore. Eduard had been the one to also request use of the radio to contact the others, but had handed it over to Toris at the last minute with a look that had the Lithuanian man cautiously taking the radio to call the others.

It had only taken a moment to realize why the Estonian man had so easily passed along the opportunity to talk with the others to get updates from the personifications' end of things as Feliks' voice was quickly replaced by that of Ivan as he gave them 'warm greetings from land'. Toris had stuttered out all that he needed to pass along to Ivan, trembling along with the other Baltics at the promise the Russian made to be the first to pull them back to land. But Feliks had apparently been arguing for the radio, unintentionally aided by Ludwig as the German man took what semblance of control over the situation he could muster.

And so Antonio had been shoved the radio as Toris went off to sit with his fellow Baltics as they'd towed the Spanish man's ship back to land. Now back among the others, Antonio felt himself nearly being pushed off the docks as the three other personifications raced to get back to the resort without running into Ivan, although Raivis' shriek signaled to the others on the dock that he had effectively run straight into Ivan's waiting arms. Antonio winced sympathetically as he and the others heard the distinctive laugh that could only belong to Ivan, watching as Feliks took off to 'rescue' Toris.

"So where are all our other friends?" Antonio asked the others, ignoring the ongoing 'greeting' from Ivan, not bothering to waste too much time on whether or not Ivan really was only just expressing his 'friendship' in the only way he apparently knew how – by being creepy. "I wasn't able to reach anyone else but by now the others should have sent out a signal of some sort, si?" He asked as he entered the resort lobby, seeing the setup that only Germany could have constructed as it began to look like a war room of old with all the maps spread out over tables.

"Nothing yet Spain." Canada replied, taking the man by surprise and causing him to do a double-take. But before the man could ask the usual question regarding his identity, Matthew chose to continue to speak, taking the opportunity of being seen and heard to its fullest.

"One of the boats from the guard around here reported some wreckage that had floated in the opposite direction it seemed you and the Baltics ended up getting blown. It would seem the others must've been caught in a crosswind or something and pushed out toward open ocean." Matthew said, seeing the usually spacey man's expression sharpening as he came to the realization that Matthew was hesitant to outright say

"If it is how you say amigo, then…the Italy brothers? Have you had any sign of them? The last I heard about them was from Alfred commenting on them being in the rear." Antonio said, coming over to see the marks on the map that represented where wreckage had been spotted. "Perhaps they were not blown out with the others and are closer to land, just further south possibly." He said, Matthew not sure if he was talking with him still or had started voicing his thoughts aloud as he stood next to Ludwig. But it seemed the German man decided to answer on Matthew's behalf, the Canadian sighing and dropping his head at that.

"The Italy brothers' boat was found capsized further south just as you suggested. The rescue personnel searched for any sign of…bodies….but it's impossible to know." Ludwig said, jaw set tight as he spoke of the grim appearance that they'd heard over the radio earlier. Anyone could see that he was plainly worried about Feliciano's safety just as much as Antonio wanted to find him and Romano.

"Then I will be joining your efforts. When do you plan on heading out?" Antonio said, rounding on the German man with a determined look despite the fatigue from enduring the storm and the touch-and-go moments with his ship's malfunctioning.

"Nein. You just got back and won't be fit to sail." Ludwig said with a shake of his head, but blinked curiously at the response from the Spanish man. Antonio merely laughed, although it lacked the usual mirth that the man exuded.

"You misunderstand amigo – I am not _asking_. So unless you have a place for me on one of your ships, I'll be… _borrowing_ ….a ship of my own to head back out." Antonio said, reminding the others with just a look that he had every intention of demonstrating the remnants of his conquistador days when his 'little tomato' was still in obvious trouble. Matthew had no doubt that if Portugal had shown up for the race instead of having last minute plans - as he too was eager to remind everyone why a large portion of South America spoke _Portuguese_ \- then Antonio's determined look would've earned at least an eye roll from his neighbor and brother to ease the wariness such a look gave off. As it was, no one seemed eager to challenge the Spaniard with everything else going on at the moment.

"Ugh…Fine. Go with Poland and whoever else he is taking with him. I think Australia volunteered to help out too but he may have already just taken off…" Ludwig said with a sigh as he rubbed the space between his eyes from the stress trying to coordinate the rescue efforts was creating. Everyone understandably had wanted to take off on their own to go after their friends, but had only held back as they waited for scraps of information to take as their starting point.

"Australia hasn't left just yet. He's, um, persuading Netherlands to join in" Matthew supplied, interjecting himself back into the conversation and feeling proud of himself for being so vocal with the others than he usually was, especially since he was also seen too. "I'm actually surprised he hadn't joined the race. He was just about everywhere with his ships too, wasn't he?" He said, but the last part seemed to have not been heard as the two went back to their own conversation.

"Don't worry Canada. We'll head out soon." Tino said as he walked over and placed an arm around the Canadian's shoulders as best he could with Matthew being taller than the Finnish man. "There's just a few more checks to go over with the rescue teams and then we'll head out. You and me and Hong Kong – we'll be a good team!" Tino continued, shooting a small smile at Matthew as he comforted the other personification, the Nordics being slightly more aware of Canada than the rest of the group it seemed.

"Yeah. Mr. Sweden would come too but I'm worried the heat would be too much for him again, he he he. We all like a good sauna now and then but sometimes there is such a thing as a little too much." Tino continued, Matthew giving a small snicker as Tino's efforts to cheer him up reminded him of both Alfred and Francis.

"Alright. Let's head out to the boats then to check over our own safety precautions, eh?" Matthew suggested, making to head down to the docks. Tino walked out with him, spurring the others into noticing that someone was already heading out, Ludwig calling for order in futility as the others that had been planning on grouping up to search decided to follow 'Tino's' lead as the Finnish and Canadian personification left the room.

With everyone set to go, Ludwig being patted on the back 'sympathetically' by his older brother as he watched all sense of the order he'd been trying to construct dissolving, the groups headed out with the plan of reporting in to one another every couple of hours unless they'd found anyone.

"Let's go before the weather changes again." Hong Kong said as he boarded the ship with Canada and Finland, an armful of what looked like the remaining fireworks from Alfred's bonfire being carried onto the ship by the man. Seeing the curious looks sent his way by the other two, Hong Kong merely raised one of his large eyebrows back at them. "What? If their radio is broke, we can signal to them this way." He said as he dropped the explosives on the deck.

"Um…isn't that the other way around? You know, the ship in trouble sets off the flare and the rescue ship follows that?" Tino asked, not sure what to make of the other's actions. "We don't want to accidentally set our own ship on fire, he he he" He continued as Hong Kong continued to level a look at them that demonstrated Arthur's influence on him.

"But if their radio is broken, they will not be able to hear us signaling to them. We send up one of these and not only will they know to head toward us, but everyone else will know we've found them without even having to use the radio." He said with a shrug, making Matthew and Tino look at one another in shared concern. That was an explanation that fitted Alfred's sense of logic more than anything.

"Plus, I don't want Poland to mistake them for flares again." Hong Kong said, that reasoning making much more sense to the other two as they witnessed the other man oohing and ahhing the other night to the point of lighting himself up. "That was the only explanation Poland would take when he wanted one of them for his ship. I do not know how Lithuania can handle having such a….curious….friend." He said with a shake of his head.

Matthew laughed at that image, the Polish man having been more than a handful as he worried over Lithuania and attempted to prepare his own way of going after his friend. Which included some suggestions that made the others wonder if he was serious or not.

"Well, we might as well take the lead again, eh." Matthew said, climbing up to take the position at the wheel. The three had decided to take the outer most route that Ludwig had laid out, Matthew feeling as though that would've been the most likely place for his twin to have been.

"So, why did you want to come back out Finland? I mean, oh, I'm sorry….I didn't meant to sound ungrateful. I'm just curious as to why you didn't stay with Sweden and the other Nordics." He mumbled to the Finn once Tino had joined him in navigating to where they were supposed to start looking while Hong Kong maintained a lookout position.

"They're my friends too, well, sort of." Tino said with a small laugh. "I thought you might want someone who could see you helping you out and, well, America once asked about who he might consider calling 'father' a while ago and I did offer to make him feel better…" Tino said, trailing off as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I guess that would make me like yours too, huh? Isn't that a crazy idea?" Tino rambled, giving his typical smile when he felt things were getting a little awkward.

But Matthew, ever the polite person, just gave Tino a grateful smile for caring enough to make the trip with him. It was better than having to pair up with someone who would forget he was there and he did get along with the Nordics all right anyway.


	10. Chapter 10

When Arthur next woke up, he at first thought it had something to do with one of the others calling for him to wake him. But seeing that there was no one else in the tight space that was the bedroom save for himself and a sound asleep Alfred, he lay back down for a moment. Looking over to Alfred, he noticed that the American still looked paler than his usual look, making Arthur a little uneasy about how to handle the others inevitably prodding him to get back to pushing the boat along.

With the heading pretty much in place thanks to combined efforts and half-functioning instruments, it really was now up to Alfred to use that super strength that Arthur wasn't entirely sure he had with him at the moment. The thought that maybe the Italy brothers had miraculously found a way to dry out and get the engine going again while he' been asleep briefly passed through his mind before he concluded that such were the thoughts of a man with a head injury. Arthur sighed and closed his eyes before what had eased him out of slumber caught his attention again.

"Hai! Success!" Kiku's voice rang out, sounding his version of excited, although with the stress of the past day Arthur could hear more of it leaking into his voice than the stoic man usually let slip. "Yao! Yao!" He called out, resulting in Alfred groaning a little in his sleep. Arthur turned to the younger man to softly shush him, running a hand through his hair to keep him asleep before he pushed himself to get out of bed.

He wondered why no one had been waking him every hour or so since he most likely had a concussion of some sort, but opening the door to peer out gave him the answer. The clock that was running on a battery read about an hour after he and Alfred decided to get some more rest for their injuries, but he was certain that he had to have slept longer. But the mess of technical equipment spread out in front of Kiku and Feliciano was evidence of how busy the others had been in the last few hours.

"Oh, Arthur-san…"Kiku said as he noticed the other man's presence. "Oh, I apologize for waking you, but I have managed to make some progress with the radio using the pieces from the clock. It's not much, but hopefully someone will be able to receive any transmissions we make now that things appear stable – I am still working on that, but this is some good news we have been looking for." Kiku said with a small smile despite his tired eyes as he looked up to the British man. Arthur gave a laugh in return at the news, refraining from giving the other a pat on the shoulder like Alfred would definitely have done.

"That's excellent news Kiku. Well done." Arthur said, Feliciano bouncing in excitement at the prospect of getting home quicker. "Now all we need to do is determine whether it's in our best interest to head back on the course Yao and I came up with or to wait it out until someone picks up on our signal." He said, rubbing a hand along his head before remembering that he wanted to ask about why no one had bothered to check in on him and Alfred.

"By the way, why didn't anyone come to wake me every hour or so? I must've slept longer than what that clock reads." He asked, noting how Feliciano stiffened up at that.

"Ve~….Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry….it was-a supposed to be me, but then Kiku had this wonderful idea and I got caught up in helping him and then Romano and Francis got into a fight and…and...Please don't hit me!" The northern Italian said, Arthur knowing that if the other had been able, he'd have been waving his white flag quite vigorously.

But the British man refrained from rolling his eyes as Feliciano cowered in front of him, choosing to just head out to find Francis and hear what had happened from him. _I can't believe I'm actually thinking of him as the reliable source_ , Arthur thought as he spotted the Frenchman acting as lookout. Without either the southern Italian or Chinese man in sight, he assumed that the other two were working with the instruments and more or less acting as lookouts from their vantage point.

"Hello Francis. I heard Kiku's finally made some progress with that blasted radio. Couldn't come at a better time." Arthur said, taking a seat next to where the Frenchman was sitting on the remains of the mast. "You don't look very comfortable like that and you're going to end up making your sunburn worse if you plan on sitting out here too long." He grouched, not wanting to sound overly concerned for the other's wellbeing.

Francis sighed as he turned to acknowledge the other's presence. "Well, mon ami, there is not much else to be done. And it is better rest out here than with Romano complaining how I am overbearing towards him. Honestly, I am just expressing myself and we should all be closer with one another in times like this, no?" Francis said as though joking.

But Arthur could tell the other man was actually a little down at having to deal with this and not having anything else to do to occupy himself in the meantime. That typically meant he eventually more or less thrust his company onto someone else in the name of 'expressing his love' for the sake of 'love's virtues'.

"Yes, well, there is close and then there is too close. I doubt you'd pick up on when you've crossed that line. Lord knows I've told you several times but it apparently goes over your head." Arthur said, smirking when he received the expected huff from the other.

"How are you though? Is Feliciano neglecting you like he apparently forgot to check to make sure I hadn't died in my sleep?" Arthur asked, gaining the other's full attention. "I have a concussion, remember?" He asked sarcastically, mentally readying himself for whatever comeback the other shot at him.

"Oui. I am well aware since it was, after all, _moi_ who kept you from a watery grave." Francis said, looking a little more agitated now. "I've been checking on you and Alfred while you slept. Feli is a little too anxious at the moment to be thinking clearly anyway as he's going through apparent pasta withdrawal." He said with a shake of his head at the moodiness that resulted from the lack of sufficient pasta that had Romano silently worrying about his brother.

"And your injury is not as bad as it first looked or I would have _happily_ woken you up. But you and Alfred just looked too cozy together like that, hon hon hon…" the Frenchman said, prompting an embarrassed blush to form on the other's face at what the older man would likely have documented photographically if he'd had the ability – he knew he was just as guilty of being a snuggler as Alfred when uncomfortable and being injured definitely made that a possibility.

Arthur was about to respond with some sort of question of veiled concern for the Frenchman when Yao's voice carried over to them and causing both to turn and see what was going on. Both groaned at the sight of Alfred emerging from the cabin and onto the deck, ignoring Yao's shouts to listen to him and wait a little longer.

"You guys have a heading. Kiku thinks he's able to send out a signal. 'Sides, I'm doin' better." Alfred said, his speech even blunter than usual as he walked over to the 'paddle' and picked it up. "We'll get rescued faster if we can get a little further in whatever direction you came up with. Just point and the hero will do the rest…oh, hey Iggy. Hey Francis." Alfred said as he tiredly noticed the other blondes, although remained oblivious to their disapproving looks.

Instead he continued to drag the 'paddle' over to where he had been positioning himself before so he could begin again to row. "Oh, hey Francis, catch." He said as he pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it over to the Frenchman.

Francis fumbled to catch it, not having expected anything to come flying at him, while Arthur snickered at the panic that had briefly shown up on the other's face – after all, he'd heard about the various games of catch from Matthew that described the way Alfred would go about playing and Francis could only imagine what Alfred had decided to throw. But either due to the lack of energy or the fact that the object was not a ball but a lotion bottle, Francis' worry was unnecessarily dramatic.

"Good lord, you'd think he was tossing a grenade at you." Arthur laughed with a smile as he teased the other man, their moment of commiserating over thanks to Alfred's interruption. Francis in turn just scowled at the British man before taking a closer look at the lotion bottle. Turning it over, he was surprised to find that it was an oatmeal-based lotion that would definitely help his skin, although he couldn't imagine why Alfred of all people would have such a thing.

"Ah, I knew you must've been paying attention to me all these years Alfred." Francis said with a teasing smirk as he began to apply the lotion, feeling better as he rubbed it on himself. Arthur just rolled his eyes as he hovered near Alfred, watching in concern as the American did his best to hide the wince the movement from paddling caused.

"Nah….Toris visited a little while ago and well, as much as he loves his buddy Feliks, there's only so much a guy can take with that sort of thing. I'm sorta the go-to guy for him to leave some of the more girly things he doesn't want to have on him but doesn't feel right throwing out." Alfred explained, Francis shaking his head at the story although it made perfect sense.

"Yeah... I hold onto it for a little while for the guy, but if he doesn't take it back, I usually toss them. But some of the stuff is good back-up and oatmeal is actually supposed to be healthy for ya. I prefer it in cookie form though with raisins or somethin'" He said with a shrug, readjusting his grip on the paddle so he could move it better with his injury.

"Well, I am not complaining. Aloe would've been nice but this is much better than nothing." Francis said, squirting some more in his hand. "And speaking of food, did you have anything before you starting your workout?" Francis asked, voicing the question Arthur also was going to ask.

"Not enough left for everybody if I do." Alfred answered, Arthur sure he'd heard Alfred's bottomless stomach growling almost as soon after he'd finished the last thing Arthur had pushed on him. "Sure could go for one of your scones right about now." Alfred said to Arthur, thinking about how at least having one of those things Arthur considered edible would've killed off the desire to eat what little remained of their food stores.

"And _that_ is how we know that things are getting desperate." Francis said with a snicker, watching Arthur's face get almost as red as his skin had been. "If the thought of Angleterre's cooking is what's driving him, then the sun really is getting to be too much for the poor boy." He said, Arthur absolutely fuming at that point.

"Excuse me? You eat snails and call it a delicacy." Arthur responded with a typical and overused retort, although the effect remained the same.

"Yeah, well, don't you eat something you call dick?" Alfred asked casually, picking up and dropping the 'paddle' into the water on the other side of the boat to keep up a straight line. In doing so he remained as oblivious as ever to the way the other two stopped in their tracks, Arthur stammering while Francis snickered. "Yeah. Spotted dick or somethin' like that. Dude, you call _him_ weird…" Alfred said with a roll of his eyes.

"Spotted dick isn't….Alfred! How could you even…I mean, really…." Arthur sputtered, Francis back to sitting on the debris that had acted as a lounge chair for him earlier, holding his sides at the horrible misconception of Arthur's dish.

"What? It's not like its short for spotted 'Richard' is it?" Alfred said, wincing again from his injury yet spurring another round of laughs from Francis. "Seriously, it's like you decided to purposely have innuendoes with your food worse than Francis. Bangers and mash, bro…" Alfred continued, ignoring the way Arthur seemed to be having a meltdown. "I wouldn't wanna find out who gets to be the 'mash' portion…"

"Non…..s'il vouis plait…..no more Amerique, no more, hon hon hon…" Francis laughed as Arthur had resorted to giving out only monosyllabic attempts to form coherent sentences to respond to Alfred. "I can't take much more…oh my…." He continued, Arthur huffing as it appeared Alfred hadn't a clue how badly he was making things awkward for Arthur.

"That's it! I'm leaving you to drown if you fall overboard you bloody twit! Both of you!" Arthur said, storming back into the cabin to distance himself as much as he could from the other blondes on the ship.

"Merci Alfred….oh, that was magnifique….he'll be hiding for sure now." Francis said, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "It is for the best too since he is still injured. He needs as much rest as he can get and humiliating him, I suppose, is one way to make sure he gets it." He said, wondering if he should follow after the British man to make sure he was indeed hiding away in the bedroom to rest up some more and avoiding doing anything that would make his head injury take longer to heal.

"What'd I say? I really was only curious. Man, he can be so sensitive." Alfred said, making to pick up and carry the paddle to the other side of the boat again but hissing as his arm protested the movement and he lost his grip. The paddle fell to the deck with a clunking noise as Alfred gripped his arm, Francis seeing red starting to form.

"Oh dear….Arthur is not the only one who could use a little more rest." Francis said, stepping over the paddle to keep Alfred from picking it up again. "Be careful Alfred. We don't have any more bandages for you. We'll be ripping shirts apart if you've torn the stiches….and we have little thread left that would be no good anyway to sew you back up." He continued, pulling Alfred's hand away from his arm to check for himself if that was indeed what had happened from Alfred insisting on moving too soon.

"N-No, I'm fine. I gotta get us back." Alfred said, brushing off Francis' concern. The Frenchman sighed as he recognized that Alfred was going to be stubborn, thinking that perhaps the offer of food would coerce him back to the cabin where the others would be able to gang up on him in the tight space to get him to rest.

"At least take a break to get something to eat. You haven't been out here long, I know, but long enough that we must've made progress. And with the radio seemingly miraculously fixed – thanks to God being on my side all the time- Kiku should be able to reach out to someone." Francis said, sighing when Alfred only picked up the paddle again.

"No. I mean, I'm _starving_ dude, but what little I _do_ eat isn't really gonna make much of a difference at this point with my metabolism. Better that you guys eat it and benefit from it since that what the hero's supposed to do." Alfred said, Francis running a hand over his face at the difficulty of dealing with Alfred.

"I got about another day or so before I probably won't be able to move at all without getting some real food in me. Might as well push as far as I can before that happens." Alfred said with a seriousness that caught the Frenchman off-guard for a moment.

"Very well…" Francis said with a sigh. "I'll go see if Yao and Lovino are still awake then. Romano is fond of his siestas and Yao didn't really sleep all that much last night. If you need help - and I mean it Amerique – _any_ help at all, you shout as loud as that booming voice of yours will go. Understood?" Francis asked in a tone Alfred hadn't heard in a while, although Matthew had spoken of it several times in the past when he'd felt particularly nostalgic. Alfred only managed a little nod, but it was enough to satisfy Francis since the other man leveled his look at him once more before heading in the same direction as Arthur.

Francis climbed down into the cabin to see that Arthur had done exactly as Francis had expected based on the observation of a shut bedroom door. Kiku and Feliciano were gathered around the table as best at Kiku could manage it, the radio giving out whirring noises that weren't the most encouraging but certainly better than complete silence.

"Big Brother France! Is everything all right? Britain looked very scary when he came back….ve….." Feliciano asked, trailing off into a whisper at the mention of the embarrassed Brit as though fearful that Arthur would suddenly pop out of the bedroom and tackle him for just the mention of his name.

"Oui. Well, Alfred's probably torn his stitches already, but he refuses to stop his so-called 'heroic duties'." Francis said with a shake of his head, Feliciano's expression shifting into one of worry for one of his friends. "I came to see how we're doing since Alfred is determined to keep rowing us in the general direction of land. Yao should try and get some more rest, and I haven't heard from your brother in a while either." Francis said, unspoken question about Romano's whereabouts left hanging.

"Hmm….China-san has not come back down here since he insisted on looking over my leg once more." Kiku said, not looking up from his work. "I do not think Romano is with him though…he would most likely have complained about him wanting to be at the wheel again." Kiku said, Feliciano gasping and dashing over as quickly as he could in the tight space to Francis.

"Ah! If he's not there and he's not here, and if he wasn't with you on the deck….What if he's fallen overboard while he was taking his siesta?! Waahhh! I'm a terrible fratello to have forgotten about him." Feliciano said, shaking in front of Francis. "We have to go look for him!" Feliciano continued, Francis ending up getting shoved to the side as the northern Italian took off to search for his missing brother. Francis sighed, knowing that trying to get the other to listen to him would be an exercise in patience, which was already being stretched.

"Do not worry France-san. I think Italy-chan just wanted to get away from Britain too. Arthur seemed to be quite melancholy at the moment." Kiku said, obviously irritated that he couldn't move from his spot as yet another development occurred for him to sit back and play spectator to.

"Oui. That would be Alfred's doing." Francis said as he headed back over to the bedroom door. As much as he enjoyed teasing the other man, if they were going on a manhunt, then they would need all accounted for and he supposed he should check in on him anyway. He knocked on the door a couple of times, receiving the usual curse from Arthur to persuade Francis to leave him alone, but the Frenchman ignored it like always.

"What part of 'go away' was too complicated for you frog? I'm in no mood to deal with you. Just looking at you hurts my head." Arthur said, Kiku unable to keep from looking on from his spot. Arthur tossed one of the pillows at Francis to keep him from coming further in, successfully hitting the Frenchman in the face. Francis tossed the pillow to the side, the fabric actually irritating his skin slightly but not enough to keep him away.

"I thought you would like to know that we are apparently missing the southern half of Italy. He isn't hiding in here with you, is he?" Francis asked, knowing that it would be a tight squeeze to hide in that room, but both Italys were adept at finding hiding spots.

"Tch…I highly doubt it." Arthur scoffed, but got off the bed anyway to help Francis look. "And how on earth did you lose _him_ of all people?" He asked, Francis shrugging for lack of a better response. But it seemed like the two were back to their normal routine of tolerating one another for as long a stretch as possible, the two men coming back out to sit with Kiku.

"I'll see if Yao is awake. Maybe the two of us will be able to keep track of both Italy brothers now that…" Francis was saying, interrupted by Feliciano calling out to his brother from the deck. Arthur shook his head at the northern Italian's plan of action, further discouraged when he heard Alfred shout once for Feliciano to get out of his way. "That's all we need to have happen. Alfred and Feliciano both knocking themselves off the boat…" Francis said, Kiku refraining from commenting like usual.

"Francis, you do what you suggested. I'll see if I can knock some sense into the panicking Feliciano up there. Out of the two of them, I might get somewhere with Feliciano by at least getting him to freeze in terror." Arthur said with a sigh before looking to Kiku. "Sorry chap, but it looks like we'll have to leave you on your own again. Is there anything you need from us before we take off? We shan't be too long. I can't imagine there are many places on this boat for Romano to be hiding." He said to his friend, Kiku negatively shaking his head.

"No, but thank you Arthur. I will keep trying on the radio to reach someone." Kiku said with a small shrug. "It is not like I can do much else like this." He said, looking at his leg as though he could will it to heal faster. "The locator piece was completely damaged, but a continuous series of attempts should alert someone, and hopefully soon." He said as he looked back up to Arthur, the other man sending him a tight smile of his own before following after Francis.

Arthur heard Yao shouting in a panicked voice something about a panda and Russia as he headed back up to the deck, furrowing his brow in confusion before realizing that the Chinese man had most likely fallen asleep while on lookout and had been awakened by the Frenchman mid-dream. He shook his head as he continued slowly back out towards Alfred, spotting Feliciano darting about the debris and looking under things as though expecting his brother to just appear. Seeing that they seemed to be relatively fine where they were and not likely to go anywhere, although the look on Alfred's face and the red bandage on his arm concerned him, Arthur headed back toward Francis and Yao.

"I tell you, I felt you giving me naughty look." Yao said as Arthur climbed up the ladder, the British man seeing the Chinese personification giving Francis a wide berth. "And I did not fall asleep on my duties. I have strict sense of discipline you Western nations…" Yao was saying, trailing off as he spotted Arthur join them. "Britain-aru, you handle your neighbor. I am busy doing other things." He finished, storming back over to the only stool in the space and plopping down heavily to look over the map in a show of actually doing something.

"You pervert. What did you do?" Arthur asked in a tone that showed he often asked such a question. Francis scoffed as he folded his arms over his chest.

"I needed to wake him up, just like I told you." Francis said before pointing over to Yao. "He was deep in a dream of some sort so all I did was give him a little shake. He must've been having _quite_ an interesting dream to assume a hand on his shoulder meant something else, hon hon hon…"The Frenchman said with a pointed look to the Chinese man, Yao huffing and looking away as his face turned red from either anger or embarrassment.

"Yes, well…." Arthur said, clearing his throat to fill the awkward silence that had fallen over the three, "…If you're awake enough Yao, we could use your help looking for Romano. The bloody fool apparently found a way to disappear off the ship without anyone noticing." Arthur said, Yao groaning and rubbing his forehead as he stood up.

"Fine." Yao said curtly, clearly not in the mood to be playing head-and-seek. "I will see what I can do to help, but someone should actually keep watch for signs of any ships. I am old man, I cannot help it if I fall asleep." He continued, Arthur and Francis rolling their eyes as the Chinese man resorted to using the refrain 'I'm an old man' to excuse whatever action he deemed would qualify under such an excuse.

"Allonze mes ami…" France said, motioning for Yao to take the lead. The Chinese man merely gave him a wary look for having to walk in front of the Frenchman before climbing down the ladder and heading out onto the deck. Arthur followed, swatting away Francis' helping gesture to steady him. The three headed back out onto the deck, intending to see if Alfred had spotted anything while he'd been watching Feliciano dart about, and noticing that not much was different from when they'd last looked.

"Feli, dude, you need to chill or you're gonna pass out on me. I ain't exactly up for carryin' ya right now." Alfred was saying as he rowed, looking to the other three with an obvious plea for them to do something. Francis sighed and stepped forward, grabbing the frantic Italian by the shoulders to get him to face him.

"Feliciano, why don't you go sit with Kiku to see if he needs help with anything? Your friend cannot exactly get up and fetch something he needs on his own." Francis said, hurrying to continue as he watched Feliciano open his mouth to immediately protest. "The three of us will keep looking. You should be ready in case Romano manages to slip past us to get back to the cabin, no?" Francis said, the northern Italian deflating a bit.

"But he's my fratello. _I_ should go look for him." Feli said, tears at the corners of his eyes again. "B-But…if he's hurt….Big Brother France, I can't-a just sit around…." He whimpered, Arthur huffing in exasperation at dealing with the crybaby antics of the other man.

"Feli, just go help Kiku. Maybe some of your good luck'll rub off on him and you can get help to come faster and we'll find your brother even sooner. 'Kay dude?" Alfred said, gaining the Italian's attention and receiving a small, hesitant nod after a moment of contemplation.

"Ve~…I guess so. But I started to look for you, and Lovino is definitely not hiding under anything out-a here." Feliciano said as he let Francis guide him back to the cabin to sit with Kiku in the hopes that the Japanese man will be able to calm him down.

"Alright, well, any suggestions of where we might actually make some progress?" Arthur said as he turned to Yao, the other man looking back out to open water as he thought. "Maybe he's taking a nap like you were? Alfred…" Arthur said, turning to the American in time to watch him attempt to move the paddle to the other side of the boat again only to accidentally hit the side of the boat and knock the door off from the piece Alfred had smashed it onto the end of earlier.

"Gah…" Alfred said with a grimace and a stumble as the movement jarred his arm, causing him to drop the rest of the 'paddle' and fall to one knee. Immediately, Arthur was over to Alfred, trying to persuade him to ease his grip on his arm so he could take a look. Yao wasn't far behind, complaining about his work going to waste as he too intended to look over the injury.

"Alfred, don't be so ridiculous. Just let me see it." Arthur said in a sterner voice, Alfred stubbornly shaking his head in the negative as he clenched his eyes shut. "Alfred…" Arthur said again in a lower voice, causing Alfred to look over to the British man in curiosity only for his eyes to dramatically widen and let out a breathless gasp as Yao ripped the bandage off his arm and prodded at the injury without warning.

"OW!" Alfred said, leveling a glare at the Chinese man that was purposely ignored as Yao scrutinized the wound for any more damage. "You…You tricked me!" Alfred said, turning back to look at Arthur with a betrayed look on his face, lower lip quivering despite obvious efforts not to outright cry.

"Not intentionally, but it certainly got the job done." Arthur said with a sympathetic look. "But it doesn't seem like you've made it much worse. Some of the stitches were torn but that's to be expected with the kind of thread Francis had on him. _And_ …" Arthur said with more emphasis as he looked over to the broken pieces of what Alfred had put together to push them along, "…now you'll _have_ to rest." He said, both relieved that Alfred would have to force himself to rest and worried about their chances of getting back to land or help.

"Ngghhh…I can…I can fix it." Alfred protested as he too looked over the state of the paddle. "Just need to put it back together again or somethin'." He continued, earning a smack to the back of his head by the Chinese man as he was re-bandaging the injury with the already bloody bandage to at least keep pressure on the injury to stop any more bleeding.

"No. Alfred, Kiku has fixed the radio." Arthur said, leaving out the actual level of the Japanese man's success in the hopes that he could talk Alfred into taking a 'break' that he would ensure lasted for as long as they were waiting for rescue if they could afford it. His statement also caught Yao's attention, apparently having slept through the shouts of success from Kiku and Feliciano.

"He has? Why does no one tell me these things? Aiya…" Yao said, both he and Arthur pulling Alfred to his feet again to guide him back to the cabin for more rest. Alfred make a few pained noises as they dragged him back into the cabin but was otherwise silent as they joined Kiku and Feliciano, Francis blocking their path as he was evidently coming back out to meet them.

"Oh! What 'as 'appened here?" Francis asked, making room for Alfred to shuffle back to the bed with Arthur hovering behind him. "I leave you three alone for two minutes…" He said as he watched Arthur begin to fuss with Alfred again, the Frenchman's look softening at the way the British man displayed his concern for the American and vice versa.

"This was his own doing. But it looks like it is up to you and me to go find southern Italy." Yao said, Feliciano snapping to attention at that from where he too was looking after Alfred in concern.

"N-No! I'm-a going to look too." Feliciano said as he stood straighter to appear more determined and unable to be dissuaded. Francis only sighed, looking upwards with eyes closed and uttering a small prayer for patience.

"Well, you and Italy look then. I'm going to go keep a lookout." Yao said with an eye roll, Francis looking over to him in disbelief. "What? There is only so much room to look around in for another person. Three of us in tight place is not a good idea." He said, climbing back up to the higher deck to again sit with the wheel and instruments. Francis huffed at that, but Feliciano was ready to get going, back to bouncing on his feet. The Frenchman looked over to where Alfred had tossed himself on the bed again, wondering when they could finally get back to civilization.


	11. Chapter 11

Ludwig was desperately trying not to let his annoyance with his brother hinder his efforts, although it certainly was making his focus hard to maintain. He was oddly grateful that his brother had actually not been disagreeable to going to look for his friends, that rare side of him that had kept some semblance of responsibility towards the German man as his brother coming out. But Gilbert quickly had gone back to complaining about boredom making his awesomeness be stifled. As Ludwig continued to steer the boat, the Prussian had resorted to antagonizing the Austrian man, Roderich looking close to just 'accidentally' knocking Gilbert into the ocean.

"Leave me alone and get back to what you're supposed to be doing." Roderich snapped, throwing a bottle of water at the other man's head. It bounced off since Gilbert had turned to face the German, dislodging the little yellow bird that had been sitting on his shoulder.

"Gilbird!" Gilbert exclaimed as the bird spun around in a daze over the albino's head before settling back onto his perch on the man's shoulder. "Hah! As if you could dent even Gilbird's awesomeness with your lame throwing arm." Gilbert said once he was assured his pet was fine, stroking the feathers on the bird's head. The Austrian man merely rolled his eyes at the other before taking a deep breath in what was an attempt to keep calm with having Gilbert so close to him. Roderich sidestepped the albino to distance himself from him, leaving Ludwig to deal with the Prussian.

"I'm going to head below." Roderich said bluntly, Ludwig acknowledging the other's statement with a curt nod. "I'll see if Elizabeta has gotten anything on the equipment." He said, pulling the collar of his jacket up as though to use it to shield himself from whatever Gilbert planned on doing, not pleased with the knowledge that Ludwig was apparently hoping that he'd keep his older brother in line while he focused on finding his friends.

"She's probably hip-deep in something by now." Gilbert said dismissively, leaning against the controls in a way that made Ludwig immediately shout for him to get off, the albino man smirking in amusement as it seemed he was playing his younger brother. Roderich shook his head, knowing that Gilbert might've meant well by behaving this way and keeping Ludwig from becoming too obsessed – the blonde German did have a tendency to get a little carried away at times with his perfectionism.

"My hips are none of your business Gilbert." Elizabeta's voice drifted up from the cabin, the three men turning to see her climbing up to meet them. "I would appreciate it if you refrained from those kinds of thoughts, unless you need me to smack them out of your head for you." She said, eye twitching as Gilbert only winked at her to further irritate her.

"Ah, you didn't bring your frying pan. He's not worth having to expend the extra effort. Plus, you'd have to hit him with your bare hands…"Roderich said, reaching a hand out to her shoulder to get her to back away, all the while Gilbert continued to laugh and comment to Ludwig about how awesomely aware of everyone's pressure points he was.

The Hungarian woman huffed, brushing off Roderich's hand a little harsher than she intended but stood determinedly in front of the three men. She was beginning to question whether or not she should have just gone with Australia's group, but it was clear to her that she would have to be the de facto leader of the group without the others even realizing it.

"Anyway, I came up here to get Ludwig. It seems like the rescue teams picked up something on radar, but no response has been given." She said, Ludwig at attention now and following the woman down to where she had set up the equipment the recue systems could spare to loan to the persistent personifications. "I've been testing out different frequencies to see if it's possible that someone is trying to broadcast on whatever's available to them…" She was saying, ignoring how Gilbert assumed control of the steering wheel from Ludwig, laughing in his usual manner.

Ludwig and Elizabeta were sitting down, the Hungarian woman about to continue talking about what she had been doing when the radio suddenly went off. Instantly, the German had the transmitter out of the woman's hands and in his own as he listened intently, ready to respond.

"Herro…is anyone there?" Kiku's voice came over faintly, cutting in and out but still recognizable. Elizabeta laughed in success at hearing from someone at last, the silence having stretched for nearly a full day at this point. "Again….is anybody receiving?" Kiku asked, ever patient in tone.

"Japan! This is Germany. What is your location?" He asked, fiddling with the settings on the radio to try and hear him better. "Japan? Japan, are you still there?...Japan?" He asked, Elizabeta's triumphant look slipping slightly as a response took forever in their minds to come.

"Germany? Oh, thank goodness we've reached you." Kiku replied, Ludwig gesturing for Elizabeta to contact the others to have them adjust their radio frequencies to communicate with the others. "We are in need of much help." Kiku said, Ludwig back to focusing solely on what the other man was saying.

"Where are you? Can you give coordinates? Rescue teams are looking for you through visual and radar." Germany replied, hearing Roderich entering the room as he picked up on Elizabeta's raised voice and the concern over the fact that Gilbert was apparently left alone at the controls briefly crossed through Ludwig's mind.

"Instruments are broken. I am transmitting from America's ship…." Kiku began to answer until another voice was heard on the radio interrupting.

"Amigo, who is with you?" Antonio's voice urgently requested, Ludwig nearly growling at the loss of any control as it seemed Elizabeta was successful in getting through to the others. But since he had asked a legitimate question that had been worrying Ludwig, he left the line open for Kiku to reply.

"America, China, France, Britain, and the Italy brothers…well, Feliciano is accounted for. It seems that his brother has disappeared since I last saw him this morning." Kiku said, Ludwig attempting to quickly interject but Antonio was faster.

"What do you mean he's _gone missing_? How could you lose him?" Antonio asked in clear worry, anger lacing his question.

"I cannot exactly get up myself to go look for him. I have a broken leg from farring in the storm." Kiku said bluntly, Ludwig hearing the strain to keep his polite tone in his friend's voice that only years of working with him had allowed him, and perhaps Alfred and Arthur, to pick up on.

"Is anyone else injured Japan?" Matthew's voice cut in, Ludwig pausing as he tried to place whose voice had yet again beaten him to his question. But Japan paused too, giving Ludwig reason to worry that the connection might have been lost.

"Japan, are you still there?" Ludwig asked, waiting for a response. He was about to radio to the others to see if they could pinpoint the transmission's location when Kiku's voice again was heard. "Repeat last message Japan. We couldn't hear you." He said, again pausing to let the other man work his end of the transmission.

"Ah, yes…it's working Feliciano…no, don't…." Kiku was heard saying, Ludwig nearly groaning at the image of his other friend deciding to 'help' with the technical equipment. If it was anything like the other times he'd been 'helpful' tactfully in the past, they might be waiting a while for another response.

"Ah! Germany! Germany, help! My boat sunk with all my pasta and fratello is hiding. Ve~" Feliciano's rushed voice came over the line, evidently having grabbed the radio from Kiku who, as he'd explained, couldn't physically follow after him to relay any viable information.

"Oh, oh….and Britain was being scary again. He fell on me and was going to crush me in his sleep while I was only trying to wrap his head. But Big Brother France took care of him after that." He continued, rambling some more as Ludwig repeatedly calling out his friend's name to get him to quiet down. But he was able to discern at least one piece of information from that babble regarding further problems bothering the Italian man as continued speaking, counting it a minor step towards progress. "B-B-But, I can't find fratello…" Feliciano finally concluded, sobbing being heard coming from the Italian.

"Italy!" The German man barked, feeling slightly bad for having to be so sharp with his friend, but the sobs disappeared. "Are you injured? How bad are the others' injuries?" He asked in a more gentler tone, ignoring the smirk on the Hungarian woman's' face as he consoled his friend.

"I'm alright. Romano had his nose broken but I fixed it like you showed me Germany. Yao's not slept much and France is pretty sunburnt…but a shark came while we were pulling him into the boat and Alfredo had his arm bitten awf...wah! Britain's awake!" Feliciano said, Ludwig hearing the distinct accent distantly asking 'What the hell are you doing with the radio? Give it here' before the transmission cut out again.

"Italy?" Ludwig asked, Antonio's and Matthew's voices also calling out for a response. Ludwig sighed, knowing that the Italian most likely had damaged the device in his haste to get away from Arthur.

"Alfred's had his arm bitten off by a shark?" Gilbert asked, gaining the other three's attention. "So not awesome. Pretty badass though…" He was saying, looking to be thinking over the idea of what the American would look like once they found him.

"Wait…"Roderich said as he looked to Gilbert, "…Who is driving the boat?!" He asked, Ludwig hastily getting up from his seat to get back to the controls.

"Relax. It's ocean. What am I going to do? Hit more water?" Gilbert asked as he watched his brother panic. "There's an autopilot or something I pressed." He said, grabbing a drink for himself and sitting down to relax. Elizabeta shot a look to Roderich as though silently asking if he'd step in to spare the Prussian her wrath again, but the Austrian man looked away as though to say 'I see nothing'. That was all that was necessary for the woman to smack the Prussian senseless while Roderich whistled out a tune he'd hoped to get to playing once their misadventure was over.


	12. Chapter 12

Arthur had been helping Alfred readjust again on the bed for the umpteenth time since the younger had found several reasons he needed to get back up. The British man was beginning to feel his headache again with the way Alfred was whining about needing to do something and how unheroic it was to just lie still while the others searched for the missing Italian, mumbling to himself that Alfred truly meant well even if he was trying his patience.

He'd just gotten him to lay with his arm propped up by one of the pillows when he heard Feliciano's voice beyond the door. Curious as to why he'd return so quickly when he'd been so adamant about looking for Romano, he'd opened the door to spot the Italian pulling the radio away from Kiku in his overzealousness, the Japanese man reaching out to warn him to not to tug on the precariously set up device. Arthur had heard the usual pleas for Germany to come save him, turning to give a stern warning to Alfred to not move from his spot, before turning and seeing Feliciano begin to wring the cords absentmindedly in his worry as he related what was going on.

"What the hell are you doing with the radio? Give it here." Arthur demanded, stepping forward to take it from Feliciano before he wrecked it on accident, both his and Kiku's eyes widening as the Italian predictably panicked at the sudden appearance and tone Arthur used. He quickly took off, the radio being tossed upwards as he fled to the engine area, forcing Arthur to have to lunge forward to catch it or else have it hit the floor and likely break again. He just barely managed to catch it in time, falling to the floor himself as he held it carefully.

"Oh, Arthur-kun, are you alright?" Kiku asked with a sympathetic wince on his face as he watched the British man slowly and carefully get back to his feet with the device. Arthur hastily put it back on the small table next to Japan, placing a hand to his head as the edges of his vision began to darken.

"Arthur? Arthur?!" Kiku called out, Arthur blinking a couple of times slowly to try and clear his muddled head only to feel like he suddenly lost his sea legs of which he was so proud. He felt himself begin to tip backwards, only to sag into someone's hold, belatedly realizing that all his efforts to keep Alfred still had just been completely undone as he was supported by the injured American.

"Easy Artie. I gotcha." Alfred said as Arthur continued to push himself to stand up on his own. "I gotcha bro…I…I…uh oh…." Alfred said, his grip on Arthur loosening up. At first, Arthur thought he was going to be dropped ungracefully onto his butt as the taller blonde appeared to lose his grip.

But instead, he found himself crumpling into Alfred's hold as the American tipped back, the two of them landing with a thud in the small walking space that had been the sleeping area for the two Italys the night before. The continual movement only furthered the ache in his head, Arthur involuntarily letting out a groan as he shut his eyes and let himself lay on top of the unconscious American personification.

"Oh..." Kiku began, Arthur hearing him mutter what he thought sounded like several Japanese curse words as he watched the two collapse in a heap in front of him, his injured leg making it impossible to get up to check on them. "Yao! Yao! Come quickly! Yao, I need your help!" Kiku shouted, Arthur wishing that the other wouldn't be so loud before realizing that he was associating loud with the normally calm Japanese man. "Yao!" Kiku called out again, Arthur clenching his eyes tighter as the yell seemed to echo in his head.

"Aiya! What's with all the screaming? I am coming." Yao called out, quick footsteps heard as he hurried to get to his brother. The raised voice, urgent tone, and the fact that he'd said that he specifically said he'd _needed_ him, all indicated that there was a _serious_ problem. "Aiya…" Yao repeated, this time in a more breathless tone as he saw the two blondes on the floor, Kiku attempting to get up to go over to them.

They weren't too far from where he sat, but even that movement clearly pained the Japanese man. "No Kiku…sit there. I'll help them. You keep working on the radio and don't move or you'll make yourself worse too." Yao said, gently pushing Kiku back onto the couch before tuning to look at Alfred and Arthur. He was just leaning over to check on them and to come up with some way of possibly getting them disentangled and back onto the bed, when Francis reemerged, both Italys in tow.

"Everyone can relax. Romano simply decided that he'd look over the engine again, but that was too much hard work to continue without taking a sieste or two." Francis said, Romano grumbling about being woken up by Francis, and that everyone knows the best ideas come in one's sleep.

"Wonderful. Then he can help with these two." Yao said, the other three noticing the two on the floor still. "Help me get them back to bed." He said, Francis striding over to help as best he could with the limited room. Unfortunately, this meant that Yao more or less ended up stepping on Alfred as he tried to get on the other side of the large American, but Alfred didn't make a sound.

"Angleterre, wake up. Come on…" Francis said softly, gently tapping the British man's face to get him to open his eyes. He was rewarded by narrow slits of green peeking out from beneath barely opened eyelids as Arthur attempted to rouse himself. "There we go. Allonze mon lapin…" Francis continued, pulling Arthur up just enough for Yao to start sliding Alfred out from under him.

"Ugh…he's too heavy…" Yao complained, Francis doing his best to get Arthur more awake as he held him in his arms. The Frenchman didn't bother to give the Chinese man a response or even a look, too busy with how Arthur continued to lean into him for support, pressing his face into the older blonde's chest like a small child looking about to take a nap.

"Non…as adorable as you are trying to be, you need to help me get you to bed. Must you make me do all the work?" Francis said to Arthur, Yao giving one more tug on Alfred to get Arthur completely off of him so he could start essentially dragging him back to the bedroom. As Yao pulled him back over to the bed, a thud caused him to pause and to receive the others' attention from watching the exchange between Arthur and Francis.

"What was that?" Francis asked, Yao's face taking on a tinge of embarrassment.

"Nothing. Alfred-aru did _not_ hit his head on the doorframe or anything like that." The Chinese man said, readjusting his grip under the younger man's arms. "It's no matter. He's already unconscious anyway…" He said, hefting Alfred up and onto the bed. Alfred landed on his side, his injured arm luckily not the one he was tossed onto. Yao rolled him over onto his back, still panting from the exertion of getting him back onto the bed. "He will so owe me for this too…" Yao grumbled, heading over to help Francis, the Frenchman successfully having dragged Arthur unsteadily to his feet.

"'M fine…Stop f-fussing." Arthur protested, shuffling forward with an arm around Francis and the other around Yao. The Chinese man huffed at that, looking over Arthur's shoulder to see the Italy brothers standing awkwardly in the entryway for a lack of anything better to do.

"Lot of help you two were." Yao said, both Italy brothers looking upset at that before Romano snapped out of it quicker.

"There's not enough room for us all to lend a hand, dumbass." Romano said, typical scowl in place and placing a hand on his brother's shoulder in a rare show of sibling care. "We'd have only ended up tripping over each other more. You and the wine bastard got there first…" He said, Feliciano nodding in agreement with his brother's reasoning, Kiku sighing as he anticipated a possible argument breaking out.

"Well, the radio's still working and we were able to contact the others. We should be picked up soon if they're all tracing the signal." The Japanese man calmly interjected. "Let's just all try to be patient. We can decide what to do later." He said as he looked at the others before returning to inspecting the radio to be sure that Feliciano hadn't actually done anything to it. He breathed a sigh of relief that Arthur's quick actions had actually managed to keep the radio in as intact a state as it had been before being tossed by a frightened Italian.

"Oui. There is not much more to be done anyway." Francis said, he and Yao placing Arthur on the space remaining on the bed next to Alfred. "Alfred will not be able to continue getting us closer to land, but he did get us close enough that help will be able to find us. And with the engine the way it is, we have no other option other than waiting." He said with a bit of a sigh.

Romano snorted as he leaned against the doorframe where he and his brother stood. "I think I'll go back to my siesta then. Come on Feli." He said, urging his brother to give the others some space, causing Kiku to wonder if it was just possible that maybe one of the two Italy brothers might be able to read the atmosphere at least a little. But then he realized that the southern Italian probably really did want to return to taking a nap in whatever peace and quiet he'd found, grateful either way that it seemed like there would be some attempt at maintaining peace.

"Next time, perhaps we could all visit Tahiti instead." Francis said as he leaned against the wall, running a hand through his dry and frizzled hair that was no doubt bothering him. "It's nearby and…well…no need for leaving it." He said with a shrug, Yao rolling his eyes as he walked back over to Kiku to look over his younger brother's leg once again to be sure he hadn't done anything earlier when he'd tried to stand on it. But it seemed like they definitely were set on one course of action now that Alfred was down for the count, but none of them were particularly fond of the idea of just waiting with only a few bottles of water left and not nearly enough food.

And so they spent the rest of the day waiting for a sign from anyone else that help was lingering off the horizon, Kiku playing around more on the radio to keep sending out a signal while the food was being rationed off. Thanks to being on board Alfred's ship, there was still a decent amount to eat, although the fresh water supply wasn't the best. But a few more static-heavy messages had come across the radio since then, giving them all a little more hope that their prolonged sea trip would be coming to an end. Arthur had woken up feeling more like himself again and had managed to find a place squeezed next to everyone else, no one wanting to get too far from the radio and nightfall had already made spotting ships practically impossible.

"Do you think we should wake Alfredo? I mean, won't he want to eat too?" Feliciano suggested as they ate what was left of the food before it spoiled – they were on Alfred's boat and while it was stocked the way the American did for a day's worth of sailing was plenty, along with what Yao had brought from his boat, with seven eating from it there wasn't a whole lot left.

"I don't think he'll be up to it Feli. It might just be kinder to let him sleep until help comes." Francis suggested, the northern Italian looking a little bummed at not getting to share a meal with an equally food-loving friend of his. But other than the typical familiar squabbles between the others as they huddled around the radio, not much else was said during their improvised dinner.

Yao offered to take the floor to sleep, giving the Italians the space with the steering wheel to themselves. That plan was readily agreed upon, Arthur going so far as to then offer to periodically switch with Francis his place on the bed beside Alfred and to take the limited space on the floor beside the bed. With that, the group did their best to get some sleep, needing rest if they were to have to go another day at sea, now aimlessly drifting without Alfred's help.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Alfred woke up to find that almost everyone was asleep except for Kiku. The Japanese man was determinedly still working at the radio, Alfred wondering if there was also a worry about what might happen should they all remain asleep. The American felt himself drifting back into unconsciousness when a sudden idea came to him as he thought back on his dream involving his whale friend. He gasped, not knowing how he could have forgotten about asking his whale for help.

"Arfred-kun? Are you awake?" Kiku's voice drifted over to him in a hushed whisper, obviously concerned about waking anyone else up. Alfred shifted a little, arm aching and disoriented from waking up in pitch darkness. "Arfred?" Kiku called out again, a little louder and less sure of himself at not receiving a response right away.

"Yeah…'m up…" Alfred said, easing himself into a sitting position. "Wha' happened?" He asked as he finally righted himself, knowing that someone was beside him but not entirely sure and his last memory was a little fuzzy.

"You and Arthur-kun both fainted in front of me. I'm sorry, my friend, but I was not able to tend to you immediately. I had to call for Yao to come pick you up." Kiku said, Alfred trying to see with the limited light from the backup lantern that the Japanese man was using to see what he was working with at the radio.

"No sweat. And I didn't _faint_ – I _passed out_. Heroes don't do that girly fainting." Alfred said, slowly sliding off the bed and tentatively standing, holding onto the wall as he bumped into something on the floor. That something gave a little groan and moved a little before quieting, Alfred mentally pleading for whoever had taken that particular stretch of floor to not wake up.

"Hai. Of course Arfred…"Kiku said in his usual agreeable manner. But Alfred swore he saw a brief smirk on the other's face, ultimately chalking it up to the way the low light was playing with his vision.

"I need to get back out on deck." Alfred said, cautiously stepping over who he now realized was Francis. "I gotta call somebody…" He said, moving forward to carefully step around Yao as well, keeping his injured arm held closely by his side.

"Nani? What are you talking about?"Kiku asked, reaching out and grabbing Alfred's uninjured arm to prevent him from continuing forward. "You need to lie down…Blood loss and lack of food are making it difficult to think clearly. Please…" Kiku said, Alfred tugging gently against his friend's hold. "The only way to make a call is with the radio and I promise I'm working hard to reach somebody else…" He urged his friend, grunting as he tried to stand up again to follow after Alfred.

"Nah. Just gotta….know who to call. I'll be right back. I need the fresh air anyway." Alfred said with a grin before yawning and slowly heading back out, ignoring Kiku's calls to come back. He climbed back out onto the deck, carefully heading over to the side of the boat. He splashed at the water a few times with a piece of broken something that had been scattered on the deck before giving out a few whistles that had taken a while to get the hang of after he'd befriended the whale.

It was like his brother's bear and had stuck with him ever since he'd grown attached. And he knew that no matter where he was, somehow the whale would eventually find his way to him if he was on water. Often, his whale would hang out in his backyard pool, but there were plenty of other times that the whale opted for the open ocean – a fact that Alfred was pleased to remember had been fairly recent.

Alfred sat down to make himself a little more comfortable, periodically giving out that whistle a few more times as time passed. He was beginning to nod off as the sky started to grow brighter with the oncoming sunrise, so that he was taken by surprise when his whale came up alongside the boat with a cheerful whistle in greeting as it gently nudged the boat.

"Hey buddy…" Alfred said with a genuine smile as he stretched out his arm to pet the side of the whale, his whale squirting some water at him from its mouth. "Yeah, I know…it's been a while. I should'a called ya sooner too, but I'm silly sometimes." He said as his whale continued to playfully get the American soaked with more occasional splashes.

"Can ya help me out buddy? I busted my arm being all heroic and stuff and my twin's probably out there lookin' for me. Think you can find him and bring him here? I could use the help." Alfred asked, confident that his whale understood what he was saying. "I'd have you pull us back, but who knows if my boat'll hold up and I don't want you gettin' hurt…" He said, stroking the side of the whale again fondly.

"Just see if you can bring one of the rescue ships here as fast as ya can and then I'll be able to spend some time with you, okay?" He asked, his whale blinking up at him with wide eyes as it appeared to practically nod in agreement with Alfred. The American laughed as the whale pushed himself up again out of the water to get closer to the beaming Alfred at spending time with his buddy again.

Alfred pushed him away playfully and covering his face as the whale submerged with a deliberate slap of his tail to splash Alfred again. The American watched him for as long as he could see him with the naked eye before letting himself slide back onto the deck and to see if he could get comfortable again enough to go back to sleep. All too soon it seemed to Alfred that he was being jostled about, prompting him to crack open one eye ever so slightly to see what was interrupting his nap.

"Ah! Sleeping beauty has awoken…" Arthur's sarcastic voice greeted him, Alfred sighing as he heard the tone. He reluctantly opened both eyes, groaning as he felt the familiar ache that came from going too long without eating properly and the itch in his arm. "Perhaps you can explain why Kiku dragged himself over to us with a broken leg to go after you? Hmmm? It had better be a good explanation too…" Arthur said sternly, leveling a glare at the American that if Alfred had looked more closely he could tell was filled more with worry than anger.

"Makin' a call to get help. Don' worry 'bout it…" Alfred said, noticing the 'us' meant Francis and Arthur with a lingering Yao. "I told 'im I'd be right back…" He said, also growing aware that it wasn't dawn anymore as the sun bared down on them.

"Well you took long enough to make your 'call' that he thought you'd fallen overboard when he heard loud splashes. You scared him bad enough to try and get to you himself! Stupid child…" Yao said as he stood with his hands on his hips. His anger was made clearer to Alfred as he spotted Kiku on deck as well once Francis moved out of his immediate line of sight, showing him next to the Chinese man.

"Oops…sorry dude. I told ya' I was comin' right back, didn't I?" Alfred said, Yao turning back to tend to the pained Japanese man. Kiku whispered something to his older brother and made gestures to get him to stop, but Yao continued to make adjustments to his earlier attempt to tend to Kiku's leg.

"No, you didn't." Kiku said through gritted teeth as Yao accidentally aggravated his leg. "You said you were making a call and needed some fresh air. You were up here forever, Arfred-kun, and there was much splashing. It sounded like you were trying to get back onto the boat but couldn't…I did not know what to think." He said, Alfred feeling confused at that as he tried to figure out why his friend would think that way.

"Either way…we had better get Kiku and you back into the cabin. We 'ave left the radio unattended for a while and we don't want to ignore anyone's actual calls." Francis said, Arthur scowling again at Alfred once more before sighing and helping to hoist Alfred to his feet.

"Relax. Go give Yao a hand Francis. You shouldn't be up either Arthur since you fainted earlier." Alfred said, going against what he was saying as he swayed where he stood.

"Yes, well, you fainted too if I recall correctly." Arthur said as he came to Alfred's aid by stepping up to his side to give him more support, careful not to jostle his arm too much.

"I did _not_. _You_ fainted. _I_ passed out. Totally different things…" Alfred said, taking a shaky step forward and hesitating as his knees buckled and he needed to hold tighter onto Francis. Arthur quickly wrapped his arms around Alfred's torso to help right the American, Alfred taking deep breaths as his head cleared.

"And you're obviously delirious…" Arthur said, voice strained with the effort of holding up his younger brother as Francis attempted to not fall over himself as Alfred pushed him up against some debris.

"Nah uh…that's you…with your fairies." Alfred said with a small chuckle as he looked directly at Arthur, the British man huffing at that usual insult.

"Alfred…" Arthur began, talking over the chuckles, "…shut up. Or I may just find I suddenly can't hold you up." He said, Alfred scoffing at that. But when Arthur followed through with his threat, letting go, Francis was the one to curse at him as Alfred sagged into the Frenchman's side. "Oh yes, I can see you're perfectly fine." Arthur said, resuming his position to continue dragging Alfred back to the cabin and the waiting bed.

"Glad you got it old man. But like I said, relax. I got a friend gettin' us Mattie right now." Alfred said as they climbed back into the cabin, Kiku hopping along behind them as he leaned on Yao with far less vocal protest than his American friend toward receiving help.

"Well, if your _friend_ is anything like Angleterre's, than we may be waiting for a while. In the meantime, you could make things much easier for all of us if you just stayed put in one spot." Francis said as he and Arthur deposited the American back onto the bed.

"As for Mathieu, I'm sure he's looking for us all too." He said a little more gently, Kiku heard hissing in pain behind the three of them as he assumed the position he'd been in for the past day and a half. "Angleterre, if you wouldn't mind…" Francis said, motioning with his head toward Alfred in a way that went over Alfred's head. Before he knew it, Arthur was sitting beside him, more or less making his way out impossible to do without notice, even if Arthur fell asleep again as well.

"Oh come on…I'm not gonna be able to move much anyway. Not without eatin' in so long. Is this any way to treat the leader of the free world? " Alfred complained, pouting at the apparent need the others thought was necessary for a babysitter. Arthur smirked at him, pushing him back onto the bed with more force than the American remembered the British man having before making the connection that it just seemed like Arthur had gotten stronger. Alfred dramatically sighed as he just let his head fall back onto one of the pillows, Arthur chuckling a few times at the childish actions as he made himself more comfortable.

"Come now. I thought you liked having company? It'll be just like one of your ridiculous sleepovers sans terrible telly." He said, unconsciously tucking in the younger man as he spoke.

"Oh, Angleterre, merci…" Francis said with an over-exaggerated gesture of placing a hand on his chest. "I always knew you had a hidden fondness for me." He said, Arthur's brow furrowing as he tried to decipher what the Frenchman was talking about. Seeing the confusion as he watched them from underneath the arm he'd flung over his eyes, Alfred snickered.

" _Sans_ terrible telly." Alfred repeated with a mocking attempt to copy a British accent, Arthur's eyes widening as he picked up on what he'd inadvertently did. The British man huffed and refused to look at Francis while the other snickered.

"That was _one_ word and was just a slip of the tongue. It's further proof of my head injury." He said, taking his embarrassment out on Alfred as he smacked him on the head, Alfred hiding his face behind his arm again to prevent any more assault.

"Yeah, yeah…a Freudian slip's just when ya say one thing but mean your mother." Alfred continued to tease and chuckling at his own joke, Francis continuing to join in as he shut the door on them, sure that rest would come soon enough if the British man decided to simply knock the younger man out. He walked over to where Kiku was accepting Yao's help once more, stepping past the Chinese man to head over to where the Italy brothers were no doubt still sleeping. The day was only a few hours old and already it seemed like there was too much excitement going on, the Frenchman settling himself on the floor next to where Romano was yet again cuddling with Feliciano in his sleep. He closed his eyes and thought he might as well use the brief silence to pray that help came before they ended up doing each other in.


	13. Chapter 13

Hong Kong was working on making breakfast for the other two passengers of their ship, yawning from the lack of a decent amount of sleep and no apparent decent tea on board to help start his day. Both Yao and Arthur had passed along that habit and the Asian man was a little irritated that he couldn't make some to help both himself and the others to become less tense since the radio transmission that had abruptly ended and hadn't been reestablished. Matthew had been nearly inconsolable at the news of his family being so injured, understandably so given the impression that his twin may have lost a limb on this voyage.

The Canadian had spent the rest of the trip firmly planted by the radio, refusing the food Tino had adamantly pushed on him for as long as his polite nature would allow before breaking down and eating something to calm down. Hong Kong had spent the better part of an hour convincing him to get some sleep and that he would be woken up immediately if another transmission was picked up, the persuasion only coming to fruition with the encouragement that with at least three ships that picked up on the signal, the location would be determined soon.

There had been some discouragement though when Australia's group did find a ship. But only to learn that it was Yao's half-sunk ship with no signs of the direction Alfred and the others had gone off in. So lost in thought, Hong Kong didn't realize that both Canada and Finland had joined him in finishing up preparing their meal, the Canadian looking like he hadn't actually slept soundly for very long.

"Why don't you go get some fresh air Matthew?" Tino suggested with a gentle hand on the Canadian's shoulder, Matthew sighing but nodding. He quickly stood up, apologizing for his gloominess and thanking Hong Kong for making breakfast as he headed up to the deck.

"He's going to wear himself out before we even find what's left of his twin." Hong Kong said, receiving an unamused look from Tino at his choice of words. The Finn clearly had been upset over the news, not that Hong Kong hadn't been upset to hear the details of the American's – and other members of his family's – injuries. Tino held the glare for only a moment before sighing and looking back to his coffee.

"True. Although I doubt the other groups are doing well either. I'm sure Spain's driving himself and everyone on his boat crazy with worry since southern Italy seems to have disappeared." Tino said, looking back up to Hong Kong. "And I'm sure you're worried about Yao...and, I suppose, Kiku. And to an even greater extent, Arthur too even if you won't admit it…" He said, giving a small smile at the look on the Asian man's face as he readied himself to deny any such thing.

"I just hope our efforts find them soon. We have to have something by now…" Tino continued, getting up to head over to where they'd been alternating their position at the instruments to collaborate with the others on finding out where the signal had been coming from. They'd almost had a fix on the location until the transmission cut out, Ludwig theorizing that if the radio hadn't been damaged, then their friends might have had to switch to a different broadcasting frequency or that they'd had to stop altogether for some other reason.

"There hasn't been anything all morning. It seemed like there might have been something at one point, at another frequency like Germany suggested, but I couldn't be certain. But then it just stopped." Hong Kong said, drinking some coffee to keep himself awake.

Finland nodded along with what the other man told him, looking over the work that they'd done to see if he might spot anything that had been overlooked the previous day in their concern. As the two sat in silence, there suddenly was the unmistakable sound of loud splashes that caught their attention. Looking to one another in confusion, Matthew's cries for them spurred them out of their seats to get out on deck as fast as they could.

"Look! Look!" Matthew said as soon as he saw the, pointing to the whale that had swum up alongside their boat. "That's Alfred's whale. He must've thought I was him or something, just like everybody else…" Matthew said with a laugh, getting a large squirt of water to the face from the whale.

"Or not…hey! This means Alfred's talked with you. Can you take us to him?" The Canadian said, Finland and Hong Kong looking again at each other to see if the other man followed the conversation the northern North American twin was having with an animal. But Hong Kong merely shrugged, Finland shaking his head at that since his experience with the Canadian over the years seemed to indicate that the other had an affinity for understanding all sorts of wildlife that they'd never had – or lost over time.

The whale gave a whistle that sounded very much like the chirping, trill-like sound Alfred would make when overexcited, diving underwater and taking off. Resurfacing shortly a good distance away from the boat, the whale shot a shower of water from its blowhole to indicate his position and most likely to encourage Matthew and the others to hurry up. Matthew scrambled to get the ship ready, the other two following his lead and just doing what he said as they prepared to follow the whale on a long shot. Hong Kong headed back to the radio to let the others know what was going on with as best an explanation as he could.

"Hello? This is Hong Kong. I may have something worthwhile to go off of…." He said, waiting for a reply. Not even a full ten seconds later, a reply came through from Ludwig, the Asian man sure that the others had been situated around their own radios for such a message.

"Ja? What is it? Have you found…" The German man began to say, Hong Kong deciding not to let him ramble off a list of questions that he no doubt would fire off rapidly.

"Well, it seems like Alfred has a pet whale…and that whale found us – er, Matthew – and he thinks it would be a good idea to follow it. I'm not sure if that's what's going on or if the whale, if it is Alfred's, thought Matthew was Alfred and wants to play, but Matthew's convinced it's taking us to Alfred." Hong Kong explained, wincing as he waited for the skeptical replies. He waited for a moment, silence meeting him as it seemed the others were taking a moment to process what he'd said.

"Are you saying you're basing your search tactics off the fact that a whale came up alongside your boat?" Ludwig asked slowly, Hong Kong nervously laughing in response as he replied.

"Ha ha ha…well, Canada is absolutely sure it's his twin's whale. I never saw it, but he would know, wouldn't he? Have you ever come across it?" Hong Kong replied, doing his best to not just end the conversation as he was getting fed up with the other's attitude already.

"Not to my knowledge, no." Ludwig answered, although Hong Kong could hear some hesitance in his reply. "There were some instances during the second world war where some of my u-boats had to be re-routed as the result of running across unexpected whale groups, but as far as I know, I've not seen America's pet whale." He replied, sounding like someone must've persuaded him to be a little less hostile and more open to this idea, Hong Kong theorizing a certain Hungarian might've been to thank.

"Well, either way, it's better than nothing and so far we haven't heard much. I did hear something earlier this morning on a different frequency." Hong Kong said, relaying the details of what he'd come across.

"Ja. Spain found something similar. His team is continuing to standby for another signal on that frequency. Let us know if your… _plan_ …has any results. I think we are the closest to you. We should be able to get to you quickest if you need help." Ludwig said, Hong Kong recognizing the dismissal in the other's words and opted not to say anything further in reply.


	14. Chapter 14

The three of them continued to follow the whale for another couple of hours. Both Hong Kong and Finland were beginning to think they might need to give up chasing after what appeared to be a random whale. But when any such suggestion was attempted to be gingerly brought up to the Canadian, Matthew would shoot them a look that neither was very comfortable with seeing on the usually friendly personification.

They were reaching the end of their patience though, and Finland was about to try again in suggesting that they follow a different tactic so that they didn't get lost too, when Hong Kong spotted something off in the distance. Matthew had nearly knocked the Asian man over in his haste to get to the binoculars, the apology quickly said anyway but nearly inaudible as the Canadian hadn't lingered long enough. But Hong Kong was used to the flighty nature of the Canadian, having spent some time with him when he'd been growing up in Arthur's household, although this was on a level that even Finland was getting dizzy watching.

"Maple! It's them! It's them!" Matthew said from where he stood at the very edge of the front of the boat. "It's really them! Oh, maple…the boat's completely a mess. How on earth did they keep afloat? Oh, we have to go faster!" He rambled, Tino hurrying to acquiesce and adjusting the controls to push the speed of the boat.

Soon, they had pulled up alongside the boat, the whale giving out another whistle that asked for praise for his work. "Oh, good job! Thank you so much, eh…" Matthew said to the whale as he hurried to jump on the deck of the damaged boat, tying off the end of a rope to the side of the boat to keep the two ships floating together.

"I can't believe that actually worked." Tino said in disbelief to the Asian man standing next to him, shooting him a quick look of bewilderment before following after the Canadian of the group. Matthew had already taken off at this point though, climbing up to the ladder to the steering wheel area.

Spying Francis asleep sitting up, the two Italians also asleep on the floor, Matthew felt a smile break out onto his face that he couldn't control. He rushed over to his big brother, avoiding tripping over the two Italians, and engulfed the European in a tight hug.

Francis let out a grunt at the impact and being awoken so abruptly, Matthew pulling away to look over the Frenchman. Francis looked ready to start complaining, not completely awake at the moment. "Alfred, what are you doing moving around with your injury…non… _Mathieu_?" Francis said, doing a double take at noticing the distinctive curl. "Mathieu?" He asked again, reaching out for the younger man.

"Oui. Il est moi, Mathieu." Matthew replied, smiling and giving a laugh that sounded like he was trying to hold back the tears. Francis gave a similar laugh, pulling Matthew to him for another hug, the two holding tightly to one another as the Frenchman latched onto the Canadian like a lifeline. "Are you alright?" Matthew asked, still hugging the older man.

"Oui. I'll be fine as soon as I get some food and water in me." Francis said, letting Matthew go and wiping away a stray tear that he'd been unable to stop slipping out. "We 'ad better go get the others." He said, Matthew nodding as the two of them shook the two Italians awake.

"Ugh…go away hamburger-bastard. Why are you up? Just to annoy us?" Romano griped as he was woken up, mistaking Matthew for Alfred.

"I'm Canada." He said, a little louder than he usually did when trying to correct someone's mistake thanks to his urgency. But it apparently got through to the southern Italian, Romano shooting upright fast enough that he knocked his head on the bottom of the control panel. Matthew winced at that as Romano held onto his head and cursed, his loud cussing enough to wake Feliciano who was far more pleasant.

"Oh, Alfredo…" Feliciano began, Francis whispering in his ear that help had arrived and that this man was Canada, prompting the northern Italian to open his eyes comically wide. "Ah! Help! Finally! Oh, Grazie, grazie…" He said, launching himself at the Canadian, Matthew too polite to push him off despite the other's clinginess. "Where's Germany?" Feliciano asked, letting go and looking over the Canadian's shoulder as though expecting his friend to materialize in front of him.

"Germany is in another search boat. Hong Kong is radioing him right now and he should be here soon. Don't worry aboot it, eh" Matthew said with a kind smile, Feliciano pulling Romano into a tight hug in his glee. "But…where's Alfred?" Matthew said, asking the question that he'd been itching to ask as soon as Francis was awake.

"He's been babysat by Angleterre down in the bedroom. Both of them fainted yesterday and had to be carried into the room. Your poor twin…." Francis was saying, shaking his head as he thought about the early morning fiasco. "He's not well, mon cher. I think he's gone too long without eating his usual meals and the blood loss from where the shark got him has been making things more difficult." He said, Matthew's face taking on an expression of worry as he hurried down into the cabin.

He spotted Yao and Kiku slowly moving around on deck as Hong Kong raced over to them, quickly swinging Kiku's free arm around his shoulders to help support the injured man back to the other ship. He looked around for Tino, not seeing him out on either ship's deck and figuring he'd already gone into the cabin himself. He was about to follow when the two Italians climbed down the ladder as well, followed by Francis. The Canadian hurriedly rushed through making sure that neither of them needed immediate care before he took off in search of his twin. Sure enough, he found Tino in the bedroom, leaning over the two blondes who were asleep on the bed.

"Mr. Britain….Mr. Britain….Arthur, you need to wake up…." Tino murmured in a voice just above a whisper as he tried to gently rouse the British man. Seeing Matthew enter the room, the Finnish man shifted to make room so that he could look over the two men. "Mr. Britain…." Tino continued, Arthur only twitching a little before sighing in his sleep and nuzzling closer to Alfred.

"Is…Is…." Matthew asked, afraid to ask about his brother's injury and unable to look himself. As it was, the two men on the bed were too close for either to tell right away since the blanket had also been drawn up over Alfred at some point by Arthur. Tino shared a sympathetic look with Matthew before nudging Arthur again enough so that Matthew could slide the blanket down somewhat.

"There's one…" Matthew mumbled as he could make out under the blanket Alfred's left arm, seeing it uninjured. "But, the other…" He said, looking fearfully up at Tino before seizing the opportunity of Arthur's shifting around some more to yank the blanket off his twin. "Oh thank maple…" The Canadian breathed out as he saw his brother still had two arms, although the angry red mark on his right arm didn't look too good.

"Come on Mr. Britain, you need to wake up. Please Arthur…" Tino said, returning to his previous task once he too breathed out a sigh of relief at finding the American intact. Arthur made a few noises of protest before he lazily opened his eyes, looking up at the two men curiously before gasping and attempting to immediately sit up. But Tino kept him from doing so, although he wasn't quick enough to prevent any quick movement from Arthur that resulted in the British man wincing at the pain in his head.

"Tino? Matthew?" Arthur asked as he was aided in slowly sitting up, one hand holding his head and looking at the two of them like he wasn't sure he hadn't just imagined them both.

"It's us Arthur. Boy, are we glad to see you're all here." Tino said with a smile as the British man finally realized belatedly that help had come. Arthur smiled back in return, giving a short chuckle as he reached out for Matthew, the Canadian obliging him like he had Francis and pulling the British man into a hug. Although the British man's hugs were not as frequent as Francis', Matthew felt how relieved and happy Arthur was to see him as he gave him a shorter version of the embrace the Frenchman had given him.

"It's good to see you lad. You too Tino. Not a moment too soon." Arthur said, wordlessly motioning for Matthew to give him room to stand up on his own. The Canadian let him do so, hovering nearby as he carefully watched his older brother's movements. "I'm afraid once Alfred fell asleep, none of the usual tricks I've had success with was able to wake him." He said to the northern North American twin.

Matthew nodded grimly as he recognized what had happened. It would be worrisome for a while, but he knew how to remedy that problem. He looked over to Alfred, clear longing in his eyes to look him over as Tino had already begun to do, but he stuck by Arthur's side to walk with him back to their ship.

"Lad, I can walk just fine. I have been since the bloody 'hero' in there pulled us onto this floating wreck." Arthur said as he protested the need to be assisted out. But Matthew shot a disbelieving look to his older brother that was obvious in its message that Arthur was going to be helped whether he liked it or not.

"Seriously Matthew, Tino's going to need your help in carrying out your twin. He isn't exactly a little thing anymore…" Arthur was saying, but the boat being jostled by something interrupted them and caused the British man to abruptly look about. The sudden head turn was too much though, and Matthew hastily supported the sagging British man while Arthur cursed up a storm that might've been equal to the one that had put them all in that mess.

"I guess that would be Germany and his team." Matthew said as he let Arthur sit for a moment to take a breath before they climbed out on deck. "He did say he'd follow after us as soon as he got our message. I mean, he said he was closest to us, but how could he have gotten here so quickly?" Matthew said, not sure how that physically was possible.

"Is Prussia on board?" Arthur asked tiredly, Matthew replying with a confused nod. "There's your answer. Not much of what he does seems to make much sense. I often wonder who is worse, him or your twin." Arthur said, the two of them hearing the familiar shout of Feliciano at that point as the northern Italian cried out for his friend.

They then heard rapid footsteps above them that signaled Feliciano had jumped off Matthew's boat to race across the deck of Alfred's to get to Ludwig's. It was followed by a large splash, Arthur sighing as he and Matthew realized that the hyper Italian had just flung himself overboard, possibly taking Ludwig into the ocean with him. That question was quickly answered when Ludwig's shouts to Feliciano to be more careful came more from the side of the boat than above them, Matthew unable to keep from snickering at that despite his worry for Arthur and Alfred.

"I suppose at some point we should get up there." Arthur said, Matthew pulling him to his feet and once more hovering beside him as they climbed out on deck. Off to the side of Alfred's deck sat a soaking wet Feliciano and an equally drenched Ludwig, the Italian with a death grip on the German man as he gushed about his rescuer saving him yet again.

Gilbert laughed from where he stood on the deck of their boat, Roderich off to the side while Elizabeta snapped pictures to document the friends' reunion with a fond smile on her face at Feliciano's antics. Ludwig was shaking his head and awkwardly patting the Italian's back as he did his best to not seem just as pleased at having his friend back safe. Eventually, the German had enough of just sitting on the deck, standing up and walking back to his boat without effort, likely having had Feliciano stuck to him like Australia's koala many times before and so had gotten used to carrying him.

"Australia has one ship out with a couple of others in it, and Spain does too. I'm not so sure if either of them are still close by. Australia didn't seem to pick up your transmission, so I'm guessing he went off in a different direction and probably will meet up with us back on land." Matthew explained as he and Arthur headed over to his boat. "Um…Romano, will you go with Feliciano? I'm sorry, I just…I'm not sure there's enough room for everyone to be properly treated on this boat and…well…" Matthew trailed off, Romano rolling his eyes in response.

"Damn potato-bastard will ignore me anyway with Feli acting like a big baby." He said, climbing back onto Alfred's deck to head over Ludwig's boat, grumbling and cursing the entire time as he stepped onto their boat. They could all see him level a glare at the German man before going over to sit by where Roderich had distanced himself from the others, probably more to avoid Gilbert than anything.

"Perhaps I should go with them too…" Arthur suggested to Matthew as they stood next to his boat, the Canadian instantly looking to ague. "I don't want to, believe me…but with Alfred unresponsive, you'll need to be able to focus on him." He said, Matthew shaking his head.

"Antonio's probably on his way. We'll have to be gentle with moving Alfred anyway." Matthew countered, Arthur taking a deep breath but not arguing further, stepping onto the boat to grasp Francis' offered hand. Once on deck, he tore his hand away from the Frenchman with more vigor than necessary, Francis chuckling as they returned to their normal routine now that they weren't wrapped up in just surviving. Seeing that Arthur was going to be looked after until he got back, Francis sending him a look to encourage him to go back to his twin, Matthew hurried back to Tino and Alfred.


	15. Chapter 15

The Finn was still where Matthew had left him, except he'd now taken to sitting on the bed beside the sleeping Alfred. "Alfred….America…" Tino was calling to him gently as he looked over his arm.

"He won't wake up for a little while. Not at this stage." Matthew said with a bit of a pout as he recognized what had happened. "He goes into that when he hasn't eaten the huge amount of calories he needs to ingest. He can usually go three days without before he falls asleep like this, but I'm guessing his injury sped things along." Matthew said, Tino getting out of the Canadian's way to let him take a closer look at the injury himself.

"Normally he'll wake up again a day or so later a lot weaker but able to bounce back once he's sort of adjusted, but he needs to eat soon after that. You should've seen what he was like when the Depression hit. I was in a little better shape, but if it hadn't been for Alfred needing to gear up for war, I bet he'd have been even gloomier. The rest of the Allies, well you remember that time…" He continued to ramble in his worry before remembering that Tino had actually been one of the more Axis-leaning countries, looking up with a blush as that fact seemed to escape him as he fretted over his brother.

But that didn't seem to have had any effect on Tino, the Finn looking about the bedroom for something. "Err…never-mind. But, what are you doing?" Matthew asked, causing Tino to stop moving about the small room.

"Well, we shouldn't move him too much without doing something for his arm first. But then we still are stuck with how to get him out of the room without hurting him more." Tino said, scratching his head in thought. "We could try to just use the blankets as a stretcher, but we might need one of the others to help carry him out." He said, Matthew nodding in agreement.

"Alright. I'll head back and see what medical supplies we have and what Ludwig's boat has." Matthew said, making to stand up but Tino shook his head, pushing him back to sit on the bed.

"No. You stay with your twin." Tino said with a firm tone to his voice. "I know you've been worried and it'll help you both to be near one another, even if Alfred's not really totally aware of it." He said, Matthew looking back at his twin as he continued to rest. Tino patted him on the shoulder once more before heading out, leaving Matthew to wait with Alfred.

Sighing at not being able to do much at the moment, Matthew made himself a little more comfortable on the bed, lying down next to Alfred. Taking his twin's hand in his, he could tell why Arthur had flung the blanket over him even in the heat of the Pacific as Alfred's hands were colder than normal. Matthew frowned at that, despite knowing how to go about fixing that problem as he'd already spoken with Tino, but he knew Alfred disliked the cold.

Matthew pulled the blanket back up around Alfred, easing up next to him as Arthur had done, the British man's position made clearer now. As much as Arthur cared very much for Alfred, being as cuddly as Alfred was never in his disposition unless they were both out of it – which Matthew also had to admit they were in this case – or Arthur felt Alfred legitimately needed someone to be close to him to help him feel better.

"Mmmm…." Alfred let out at the extra warmth, Matthew brightening up at the fact that there was some response. He was certain Alfred had let himself fall into that sleepy state of his, and was encouraged by the fact that they might be able to get him help easier and quicker if he hadn't.

"Alfred…Alfred, open your eyes Alfred. I'm here. It's your twin. It's Matthew. Canada." He said, shaking Alfred's shoulders to keep him from deep sleep. "Alfred, come on, eh…" He said, smiling when Alfred groggily opened his eyes to look around. "Hey bro…" Matthew said as Alfred locked eyes with him.

"Mattie?" Alfred asked, voice sounding hoarse and making Matthew wince a little at the sound. The others hadn't sounded quite that bad yet, but he knew that Alfred probably had done something to himself. "My whale found ya. I knew he would." Alfred said with a small smirk on his face, Matthew's earlier musings put to rest as he figured his twin had strained his voice doing those strange calls to his whale.

"Yeah. He did. Now let's get you some help, okay?" Matthew said, shaking his brother again to keep him from falling back asleep as Alfred's eyes were beginning to close again apparently involuntarily. "No, no…you can sleep once you've had something to eat. Come on…" He said, propping Alfred up into a sitting position. "You can tell me all about being the hero. And maybe explain why Feliciano led us to believe a shark had bitten your arm off…" He said, knowing that would get the American's attention.

"Huh?" Alfred responded, shooting a confused look to Matthew. "What are you talking about?" Alfred asked, leaning onto his brother and taking deep breaths as he tried to stay awake. Matthew just laughed, rubbing his brother's uninjured arm as he held his twin to him, picking up the blanket and wrapping it around Alfred's shoulders as he picked up on the tiny shivers the other was experiencing.

"Feliciano didn't finish his cries for help to Ludwig…" Matthew said with some humor in his voice. "Arthur interrupted at just the right time and it sounded like he was saying a shark had bitten your arm off…good thing you're ambidextrous, eh? I think you're going to be a lefty for a little while." The Canadian said, shaking Alfred a little to keep his drooping eyes from closing again.

"Antonio's probably on his way and with Yao, Kiku, Francis and Arthur on my boat, you're probably going to need to be carried onto his ship." Matthew said with a sigh, wanting nothing more than to carry his twin onto his ship and head back to land as soon as possible. "Unless Francis and Arthur want to hop ship, but I'm not so sure that bunch won't kill each other before they get back to land…" The quieter twin said, earning a small laugh from Alfred.

"Then I'm gonna lay back down for a minute or two until Antonio gets here." Alfred said, Matthew initially wanting to protest but ultimately helping his brother get comfortable as they waited. "I'll stay awake, Mattie, don't worry. I ain't like you when you get all 'hibernation-y'." Alfred said with a teasing smirk at the Canadian's tendency to be a little lethargic when winter first hit his lands.

"I do not 'hibernate' Al, I just, take some time for myself." Matthew said, a small blush on his face. "And for your information, I haven't done that since I was still at Arthur's house." He said, Alfred chuckling again.

"So, last week?" Alfred teased, Matthew pouting at that but shaking his head as his brother liked to tease him for 'taking so dang long' to 'follow his lead' with independence.

"You know, I think maybe you should take a nice long nap." Matthew said, poking Alfred in the cheek playfully as his brother laid beside him. Alfred pretended as though he was going to bite his twin's finger as Matthew prodded him a few more times, the Canadian smirking as he tossed the blanket further up to cover Alfred's face completely. "There. Perfect." Matthew said, Alfred not pulling the cover down at all, choosing instead to just lie there still and quiet.

"Alfred?" Matthew asked, wondering why his twin had stopped making the effort to mess around with him. "Alfred." Matthew called out again, a little more firmly, his worry showing through. He hastily uncovered his twin, seeing Alfred looking as though he had lost the battle to stay awake, completely still.

"Alfred!" Matthew cried out, leaning over to check on his twin to make sure he was alright, tilting his head to check on his breathing and therefore not ready for when Alfred quickly pulled his twin over him and onto the bed with his left arm. Alfred laughed as he entangled his twin in the bedsheets with him, hissing occasionally as his right arm began to sting more prominently at the sudden movements Alfred was making.

"Ah! You hoser! I thought you'd….oh, I'm spreading marmite on all your hamburger buns you…you…" Matthew said, pelting Alfred with a pillow on the side of the face as hard as he dared with his brother being injured.

"No! Not marmite! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, bro…" Alfred said, contrite as his twin threatened to get back at him. "Don't do that to my food. It's, like, sacrilege or somethin'." He said, Matthew rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"Then don't play dead Alfred. You're in bad enough shape right now and I spent all night thinking I was going to find you missing a limb or something if I even _did_ get to see you again." Matthew said, eyes watering up as the stress of the past couple of days caught up with him.

"Ah, geez…come 'ere…." Alfred said, holding his left arm out so that he could hold his twin. "I'm sorry Mattie. I didn't think…I was just so glad to have you here and, you know, going without my burgers makes it difficult to think straight." Alfred said as Matthew pulled his brother in close for a tight hug. "Not so tight Matt, I kinda forgot to be careful with my arm. I think it's bleedin' again." He said, Matthew pulling away to undo the bloody bandages and take a look at the reopened wound, stitches completely torn.

"Yeah, you did a number on it, eh…" Matthew said, face morphing back into an expression of worry. "If you can manage to stay awake, lay back down and I'll go get some bandages to try and put pressure on it. You're probably going to need to get stitches again…" He said.

Alfred groaned at that, protesting that he would heal soon enough anyway. "Don't move and _don't_ go back to sleep. You made Arthur worry too." Matthew said, sending as stern a look as he could to his twin, knowing that Alfred probably wouldn't listen but he could try and look imposing for at least a moment.

"I mean it. Don't make me give you a what for!" He said, although even he could tell that his whisper voice wasn't doing much by way of assuming an air of absolute authority. But Alfred gave a heavy sigh and nodded, Matthew taking that as a victory before he once more wrapped the blanket around his twin and headed back out on deck to get to the other boats.


	16. Chapter 16

"Finland….Finland…." Matthew called out to the other man as soon as he spotted the other personification talking with Ludwig. "I need your help." He said, motioning for Tino to follow him onto their ship.

He passed Yao and Hong Kong tending to a very relieved looking Kiku in the cabin on the way to their medical supplies, briefly sending them a small smile although he was fairly certain that neither Asian man noticed aside from the shiver that Yao gave as he looked around for something. Reaching where the additional supplies had been stored, Matthew was thankful that they'd had a larger boat to take since it seemed that Arthur and Francis needed the extra room as he found them arguing over something in the kitchen area.

"Will you stop that?" Francis asked, grabbing a pot out of Arthur's hands. "Go sit down before you poison us with whatever you're trying to make. I said I'd see what they had and bring out food." Francis said, holding the pan out of Arthur's reach.

Arthur growled as he looked up to grab the pan for the sake of being stubborn. Matthew sighed as the two looked as bad as he and Alfred occasionally behaved – without the playful intentions. But he rushed forward when it seemed that looking up was a bad idea for Arthur, the British man taking a shaky step back as he got lightheaded.

But luckily for Matthew, Francis had apparently anticipated such a reaction, reaching out to grab the front of Arthur's shirt to keep him upright long enough for Matthew to be able to brace him from behind. " _Now_ will you go sit down?" Francis said with pursed lips at the green-eyed man's behavior.

"Come on Arthur. You can help me get the supplies I need to bring to Alfred." Matthew suggested, hoping to keep the peace. They hadn't even left to return back to land yet and he had found the two of them ready to fling each other off the boat.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Of course Canada." Arthur said, straightening himself out as Matthew cautiously let his grip loosen around Arthur's shoulders. Tino joined them shortly after that, Francis returning to whatever it was that he had been attempting to prepare.

"Is everything alright Matthew? Why aren't you with Alfred?" Tino asked, helping to pack up what Matthew had been setting out on the table to carry over to Alfred. "I thought you said he was just going to sleep?" He continued to ask, Arthur more interested than before as he handed over a bottle of water, taking one for himself as he sat back down at the table.

"Alfie wasn't too far gone this time. I managed to wake him up but he tore what was left of his stitches. I'm trying to get back to him before he decides to just follow out on his own." Matthew said as he hastily gathered everything up in his arms, shuffling behind where Arthur was sitting to head back to Alfred.

"Wait Matthew. What's going on?" Arthur called out, twisting in his seat to watch Matthew run off. He shot a look to Tino, the Finnish man sending him what he hoped was a sympathetic yet encouraging smile as he too left Arthur and Francis to follow after Matthew. "Well, Antonio radioed Ludwig so I'm sure he'll be here soon and then we'll head back to land. Don't worry." Tino called back to them when it was apparent that Arthur looked ready to follow after him.

"But, I can offer…" Arthur continued, only to have Francis push him back down in the seat. The British man grumbled as he tried to get around the Frenchman who blocked his path. "Francis, get the hell out of the way…" He grumbled, Tino snickering as he realized he wouldn't have to worry about keeping Arthur in place with Francis around to take his mind off of his and Alfred's injuries.

"Non. Do you have to act like a child? I am already making you some proper food since I know I am starving too." Tino heard Francis say as he grabbed a few more things to take over to Alfred. "Or should I simply make warm milk for petite infant?" Francis goaded, Tino hearing the two begin to argue much louder than he thought someone with a head injury capable of, their voices carrying out onto the deck as he left.

Tino headed back down to where he knew Matthew and Alfred to be, careful not to drop the things he was carrying. To him, it didn't look like Alfred had moved at all as he laid pretty much where he had left him with Matthew earlier.

"Alfred, if you're pulling another prank on me, so help me I'll make good on that threat I gave you earlier." Matthew was saying as he tended to Alfred's arm as gently as Tino expected the Canadian to be. "Come on Al, you said you'd stay awake…" Matthew grumbled, pausing in his work to shake Alfred's shoulders.

"He just needs a little encouragement." Tino said, pulling out of its wrapper a large hamburger he'd made the previous night when there was little else to do. "This is probably better than smelling salts for him. But finish wrapping his arm first." Tino said, Matthew nodding without argument as the Finnish man assumed a tone that Matthew could describe as parental – he wondered if it had something to do with being Santa Claus or having spent so much time with an equally stubborn relative of Arthur's by the name of Sealand.

Alfred's arm was treated with what supplies they'd brought along with them, minus the stiches since Matthew decided to give Alfred's pleas for letting it heal naturally a chance. It looked like there hadn't been much improvement by way of letting their natural fast healing take place, but if they could keep his arm wrapped up, clean, and dry, his twin might not have to deal with another doctor visit that it seemed impossible to get him to go to.

Once Matthew was confident that he'd done a decent job of making sure the bandages were properly done, Tino wafted the smell of the American-size burger the Finnish man had optimistically made for Alfred. Matthew watched anxiously for a reaction, Tino looking just as anxious until Alfred's face twitched. Slowly Alfred seemed to become aware of the aroma of what apparently was his driving force, sniffing about as Tino moved the hamburger around a little more. Matthew laughed as Tino's plan worked perfectly, Alfred opening his eyes and looking around for the source of the smell, pushing himself up a little to follow after it.

"Hello Alfred…" Tino said, trailing off into laughter along with Matthew as Alfred mumbled out something along the lines of 'hamburger heaven' before reaching with both arms for the offered food, noisily chomping down on it. "Take it slow Alfred. It's not going anywhere and you haven't eaten in a while." The Finnish man continued, taking out the bottle of water he'd stuffed in his pocket when he'd carried over his armful of supplies. But it didn't seem like Alfred had heard, too absorbed in the fact that there was food to be consumed, Matthew having to pull it away now and then to force Alfred to slow down so he wouldn't be sick.

"Mmmm….so good…." Alfred said around a bite of food, finishing off the burger with a few more bites and taking the offered bottle of water. He fumbled with the bottle for a second as he seemed to forget about not using his right arm, Tino reaching forward to undo the cap for him.

"Tino?" Alfred said sleepily as he finally recognized the other man in the room aside from his twin, looking up at him and blinking a few times to be sure he hadn't mistaken him for someone else. "Hey, it _is_ you." He said, giving off a beaming smile directed at the Finnish man.

"Yeah…I thought you might like some help." Tino said with his usual cheery smile as he watched Alfred look over to Matthew to 'whisper' his question to make sure that he hadn't lost his mind yet.

"No, he really came with us. He was worried about you too Alfred." Matthew said fondly, his twin looking more like a child that had been told that Santa had personally delivered an early Christmas just to him – which, when Matthew thought about it, was sort of the truth in an odd sense.

"Well, you would say that if I made you up too." Alfred said, finishing off the rest of the water bottle in a way that a man who hadn't drank any in over a day could manage.

"No, you're not making anything up. I had to argue with Berwald to have him understand that I wasn't going to just sit around and do nothing." Tino said, patting Alfred's shoulder with a tenderness Matthew thought suited the other man's typical personality. "I'm glad to see you're all here." He said, coming to sit beside Alfred as best as he could with the limited space available. Alfred continued to smile, leaning his head on Matthew's shoulder and yawning as he relaxed again.

"No sleeping. You're worse than Kumakiji…" Matthew prodded with a light tease. "I think we should try and get you out of here now, eh." He said, shifting his twin so that Alfred was leaning more on Tino. The Finnish man easily took over the caring role, readjusting the blanket around Alfred's shoulders and rubbing his back soothingly in a way that Matthew thought might be counterproductive to keeping Alfred awake to walk out on his own back to a rescue ship.

Leaving the two of them, Matthew returned to the deck to check in with anyone that noticed him to see if there had been any news of anyone else being on their way to assist them. Alfred didn't appear to be in critical condition, but the others needed to get back to land soon, especially Kiku. He didn't want to have to split up from his twin after just reuniting, but if they had to, there wasn't much more he could think of doing. But his mood lifted when he saw another ship headed their way, figuring it must've been Antonio's ship based on the way the horn kept on being blared.

Matthew looked over to Ludwig's ship, expecting one of the Italy's to be ready to greet the next ship, only to find that they had apparently gone in search of food and a place to rest on board Ludwig's ship. But he began to panic a little at the realization that Antonio's ship didn't really have a spot to anchor to alongside the damaged vessel, and that the Spanish man clearly intended to get as close as possible anyway with the result that Ludwig's ship ended up getting nudged out of the way. Alfred's ship rocked at the sudden impact, Matthew flinging his arms out to balance himself to keep upright.

"Bloody hell…crazed Spanish fool. You'll sink everyone with sailing like that! It's no wonder you took a nosedive when you did." Matthew heard Arthur shouting, spying the British man looking out one of the windows as he too looked to see what the commotion was all about.

"Nice to see you too amigo." Antonio called out to Arthur, the Spanish man tossing a rope for Matthew to catch so that he wouldn't drift away like Ludwig's boat had done, the rope he'd tied off to Alfred's ship the only thing that likely saved the German man from having to start up the engine again to get close to Alfred's boat. "Where is everyone? Where is…" Antonio began, gasping as he saw Feliciano came back out on deck to see what had happened. "Feli! Little Feli! Are you alright?" He asked, jumping off his boat to land with a roll on the German's boat.

"Ve~. It's good to see you Antonio. I'm alright now that Ludwig has brought lots and lots of pasta since I haven't had any in days. Days! That's just not-a right!" Feliciano exclaimed as he returned the clingy hug that the Spanish man had engulfed him in as soon as he'd reached him.

"Nice of you to worry about me too damn bastard." Romano grumpily called out from where he stood in the entrance to the cabin area. "Break the damn boat and start this whole thing over again why don't you?" He said as he walked over, looking red in the face as he clearly tried not to rush over and join the hug.

"Romano! Oh, mi tomate…I'm so glad you're here. Oh, your brother said he couldn't find you and I feared the worst for my little Roma" Antonio said, reaching out for Romano to come closer to where he still held onto Feliciano. Romano grumbled as he made a show of 'reluctantly' coming a little closer, Antonio not waiting much longer and grabbing his arm as soon as he was within his reach, crushing Romano to him and Feliciano.

"Ugh…too much of the….stupid hugging…" Romano said, squirming at first as Feliciano and Antonio laughed before giving in and leaning into the embrace. "Be-a careful of my nose bastard." Romano said as Antonio pulled away slightly to take a closer look at the southern Italian, making a sympathetic noise at the way his nose was bruised and swollen.

"Oh, Lovino. Don't worry. Boss will make it better." Antonio said with a smile, Romano clearly forcing his usual scowl into place as he grumbled about Antonio referring to himself as 'Boss' again. But he only slightly flinched when Antonio gave Romano a quick kiss to the cheek and ruffled his and Feliciano's hair.

"Spain, if you wouldn't mind…" Matthew began hesitatingly, not wanting to be rude and interrupt the very emotional-looking reunion, "….Antonio, could you…." Matthew tried again, shoulders deflating a little as he was ignored.

"Antonio, since you are here, you can help tend to some of the others." Ludwig said in a much louder tone than Matthew, succeeding in pulling apart the three personifications both figuratively with his voice and literally as he essentially pulled the Spanish man a step or two away from the Italy brothers.

"Oh, Si…that's why I'm here." Antonio said with a couple of blinks as he registered what the German man had said. "Who am I taking back with me, Poland and Lithuania?" He asked, the German man wondering how on earth his ship stayed afloat with both Antonio and Feliks on board. But, he reasoned that Toris must've had something to do with that and Ludwig did have to admit that sailing was a large part of who Antonio was.

"Moi…" Francis called out as he stepped back out onto Alfred's deck to head over to where Matthew was standing. "Pardon Mathieu, but you will need the room and if I stay in a confined space with Angleterre any longer…" He began, throwing up his hands in a gesture that conveyed, 'I will not be held responsible for what may happen'.

At Matthew's crestfallen look, the Frenchman cupped the Canadian's face in his hands and sent him a small smile. "Do not fret, petite frere. We will all be back on land soon and we can talk with one another through the radio if you wish. Big Brother France is always lurking around, hon hon hon…" He said, climbing aboard the Spaniard's ship with the assistance of Toris.

"Anyone else?" Antonio asked after giving a smile to his French friend to indicate his relief upon seeing him well, turning back to Ludwig and, unknowingly, Matthew.

"Can one of you help Tino and I move Alfred? He's down below." Matthew said to Ludwig politely, hoping that he'd been loud enough. He could usually make his voice heard when need be, such as in emergencies like this, but it was getting harder to do with everyone's scattered attention.

"Ja. I will help carry him. Does he need a stretcher or anything like that?" Ludwig asked, doing his best to ignore the rapid speech of the northern Italian who couldn't seem to keep it in any longer and had been talking nonstop to Elizabeta as she too came out on deck to see what had happened.

"Oh, I think I may have one on board my ship." Antonio said with a thumb over his shoulder to point to his boat. Turning, he called out to Feliks who was still on deck, the others not sure if they'd end up with a stretcher or something else as it took two tries to get him to go after it.

"He probably won't need it, I think, but it wouldn't hurt him to keep from moving around too much. We managed to get him awake and get a burger into him, but he seems quite woozy. I just want to be safe." Matthew said to Ludwig, not sure what else to say as the other man seemed to only be able to put on an analyzing look as he listened. "Um…okay then. Should we head down then, eh?" He asked, wondering if he'd gone invisible again as the German kept up that look.

"Not yet. Give them another couple of seconds to bring out the stretcher before we give up on them." Ludwig said, Matthew nodding as they stood awkwardly next to one another on deck while they waited for Antonio to return. Matthew watched as Ludwig checked his watch, wondering if he really was timing things, but his attention was brought back to Antonio as he leaned over to grab what Feliks and Toris were handing over.

"Gracias." Antonio said, returning to the two waiting blondes with the stretcher placed over one shoulder. "Alright, let's go get our American compadre." He said, Matthew taking a deep breath and leading the way.


	17. Chapter 17

Entering the cabin area again, Matthew spotted Tino as he cradled a sleepy Alfred to his chest, the Finnish man apparently telling jokes to Alfred while they waited. Tino gave a small wave to the others as they laid out the stretcher on the floor and began to try and rouse Alfred. But he received only a groan of disapproval at being asked to move, Matthew looking on in sympathy as his twin fought against giving in to his body's natural reflex to dealing with these sorts of situations.

"No way dudes." Alfred said once he recognized what they planned on doing. "I don't need to be carried. I…I can walk on my own." Alfred said, holding the blanket tightly around him with his left arm, keeping his right covered as he pushed himself into a sitting position at the end of the bed, ready to stand. Tino was instantly upright as well, pleading with Alfred not to make any sudden moves.

"Nghh…I'm good. Watch" Alfred said, taking a deep breath before rapidly standing up with a determined look on his face, Matthew sighing as he knew what would happen next. He could tell his twin had decided to give his all and stand as quickly as he could to get it over with, like ripping off a bandage to keep the stinging to a minimum.

And so he watched what little color had returned to his twin's face drain out, Ludwig and Tino catching Alfred as he pitched forward. With some difficulty, they all managed to turn him onto his back and lay him on the stretcher, Matthew draping the ends of the blanket still clutched in his brother's hand onto the stretcher and onto his twin.

"I think he's ready to be moved." Antonio said, grabbing one end of the stretcher while Matthew hovered nearby. Tino stood behind Ludwig, also insisting to help.

"Nein. Not enough room and he'll be too heavy for you." Ludwig said, counting to three in German to signal to Antonio to lift his end. The Spaniard did so, but Matthew could see him already panting from his brother's weight.

"Switch with me Antonio." Matthew said, Antonio giving a nod as Ludwig and he lowered Alfred back to the floor.

"Los siento amigo. I did not realize your brother would have so much to him." Antonio said, shifting around to give Matthew room to bend down and pick up his end of the stretcher.

Matthew laughed at that, knowing that while the other personifications likes to toss around words like 'fatty' to his twin, they had no idea of what really was going on with the American. "Yeah. You should try being on bottom when he decides he wants a piggy-back ride." He said, Antonio's eyes widening at the thought.

But nothing else was said aside from Ludwig counting to three again as he repeated the process with Matthew this time. Antonio and Tino helped to make sure things were pushed out of the way so that Ludwig and Matthew could navigate their way out with Alfred, their actions as hurried as possible in case Alfred woke up and decided to try walking out on his own again.

"So…" Gilbert called out from the deck of Ludwig's boat as the group made their way back out onto Alfred's deck. "How many arms has he got?" He asked in a tone that could've passed as disinterested yet still curious to a stranger, but Ludwig could hear the underlying worry for one of their own.

Matthew could only imagine what things looked like if his reaction was anything to go by, since Alfred was more or less wrapped up with the only parts of him visible underneath the blanket from below the knees and from the shoulders up. The fact that Gilbert probably could only see his exposed left arm probably added to the image that Matthew knew he'd conjured up in his mind of his twin.

"Still two." Tino answered as the group headed over to Matthew's ship, despite knowing that Antonio's was probably the better choice. The albino man just nodded, the only one without enough tact to keep from outright shouting out the question that the others had refrained from asking but listened intently for the answer.

"Awesome." Gilbert said. "Then hurry it up Ludwig so I can head back inside before I do my awesome impression of a lobster." He said in a rare show of acknowledging that he wasn't exactly meant for long stretches out in the open sun. Ludwig grunted out a quick 'ja' to his older brother as he and Matthew slowly carried Alfred onto the other boat, the group entering the cabin to find a place to carefully set Alfred down.

Kiku, who probably also could've benefitted from the stretcher if they'd had one earlier, was still being cared for by Hong Kong as they passed by him. The Japanese man looked over at his friend in unspoken worry, Matthew grateful that he and Yao didn't choose to comment on their method of treating him just yet. But Matthew found Arthur to be, predictably, a different story as the injured British man met them almost as soon as they' gone to place Alfred on a bed in another area of the ship to be cared for properly.

"Have you gotten him up yet?" Arthur asked as he helped to untangle Alfred from his blanket. Ludwig sidestepped to make room for the intrusive man, Antonio rolling his eyes at the expected behavior.

"Arthur, let them get him situated before you go criticizing how they go about it." Antonio said, heading back out of the room. "I'm sure they can handle it. But if that's all that's all I can offer, I'm going to see if Francis is able to explain what happened to Romano." He said, taking off before Arthur could say anything about that, the British man closing his mouth and halting whatever response he was going to give in favor of getting back to Alfred.

"You are injured as well. There is no further need for you to push yourself to treat him since we are here now. Go rest." Ludwig said, placing a hand on Arthur' shoulder to push him toward the door, clearly not leaving room for debate on his comment.

"Excuse me? I am _more_ than capable of realizing my own limitations, _sir_." Arthur said, brushing off the taller German's hand. "And I am plenty qualified to look after…." He began to say, Matthew sighing in response to seeing Arthur getting riled up like he did, although the other would claim he never lost his 'keep calm and carry on' attitude.

"If you don't look after yourself, how can you look after your bruder?" Ludwig interrupted, stopping the rant Arthur was about to go on. Matthew looked back and forth between the German and British men before sending a pleading look to Tino.

"Okay. Why don't you help Matthew get something up here for him to eat when he wakes up?" Tino said, attempting to infuse the situation with a lighter tone with his forced cheerfulness. "I'll just start seeing what we can do for him and wait until you get back." He said, motioning with his head to Matthew for the other to grab ahold of his older brother and lead him out of the room. The Canadian nodded and gently tried to maneuver Arthur out of the way of the small sick bay in favor of possibly getting him to head to a bed of his own to get some rest.

"Please, Arthur. You're all in need of a rest. Alfred's alright, eh." Matthew said, Arthur sighing at being made aware of his own state of health thanks to the others. "We'll let you know when he wakes up. You know, if he doesn't do it himself." Matthew said with a smile, easing the tension evident in the British man's stance.

"Yes, well, so long as the git stays still long enough for you. I suppose then my babysitting shift is over." Arthur said, attempting to look disinterested now in wanting to look after Alfred. Matthew just nodded along with him to avoid accidentally prompting either more vocal denials of caring about Alfred or further arguments to let him stay and contribute.

"I'll stay here, Arthur. No need to worry." Tino interjected, Matthew internally wincing at that as the Finnish man did exactly what he was trying to avoid. He knew that Tino hadn't had as much experience with Arthur in a one-on-one situation, but Matthew realized that he was only trying to be comforting.

"What gave you the impression I'm worried about him? The bloody fool decided to wrestle with a shark! It's his own fault he's like this." Arthur said, Tino looking taken aback at the sudden emphasis in the British man's voice. "No, I'm more concerned with being there to smack some sense into that thick head of his once he's awake. It's a bloody miracle we managed to get by with him taking charge…" Arthur said with a huff, Matthew rolling his eyes and continuing to urge him out of the room.

Ludwig looked like he had no more patience with the situation either and Matthew wondered if there was going to be an outright brawl with the way Arthur was clearly becoming more agitated – he may have prided himself on being an accomplished sailor, but even the best got tired of being cooped up after a while, especially if stuck in such an uncomfortable and hazardous situation with a bunch of other equally frustrated men. But it seemed that Alfred could sense the atmosphere better while unconscious than awake, the American stirring as he laid out on the bed.

"Hmmm? Wha…" Alfred said, blearily looking around as he tried to wake up. He locked onto Tino again, the Finnish man comfortingly smiling at him and offering a rushed whisper to encourage him to just rest now that he was safe. "What's up with Iggy?" He asked, Tino trying to keep him from getting up by pushing gently against his shoulders.

"Arthur is merely concerned for your wellbeing. Now that there is no immediate danger, I suggest he look after his own health and we will proceed to tow your boat back to land." Ludwig said, Alfred looking up at him in confusion as he tried to figure things out on his own as he visibly looked to be attempting to recall his last memory.

"Nggh…I'm fine. Lemme up and I can…" Alfred began, Tino practically laying on him to keep him from getting up as he attempted to peacefully persuade Alfred to just let them take care of him. "The hero doesn't rest until the job's done. I'm good. I can…" Alfred continued until Ludwig, sighing in frustration in a manner most often used for dealing with either Gilbert or Feliciano, walked over and flicked him on the forehead. While not enough to really do any damage or have any real impact, Alfred was sufficiently distracted enough for Tino to push him back down onto the bed.

"Ja. I can see the family resemblance." Ludwig said as he shot a scowl over to Arthur, the British man furrowing his brows as he stood by the doorway with his arms crossed, Matthew still not letting him go in case Arthur decided to go back over to Alfred. "Can you handle them all? Including Mr. Independence?" Ludwig said to Tino with the attempt to joke, the Finnish man giving the barest of nods as he briefly looked over to Ludwig from tending to Alfred as the taller man continued to insist that he be let up to steer the boat back to land. The German man gave a stiff nod as well before exiting the room, leaving Matthew to deal with a still irritable Arthur.

Quickly making his way back out onto Alfred's deck to cross over to his own ship, he checked the ropes once more to be sure that they could begin heading back to land. As much as he'd prefer to leave it to the rescue ships likely more capable of that, the German knew that Alfred would've been even more uncooperative if he'd realized that they were leaving his boat behind. "Germany! Germany!" Feliciano called out, Ludwig with barely enough time to brace for the tackle that surprised him with the Italian's hidden strength to cling to him. "You brought me pasta! Ve~. You're such a good friend." He said, nuzzling his friend's shoulder.

"You came out here to tell me that? Why aren't you with your brother?" Ludwig said as he dragged Feliciano back aboard his ship, smelling the unmistakable scent of Feliciano having readily started a batch of pasta. "You don't normally leave your food either once you start…" He said, trailing off in a questioning tone.

"Oh, well, Elizabeta said I shouldn't be doing anything like that right away. Doesn't she know how healing pasta is? And you were taking forever so I thought I'd come find you." Feliciano said, proud of his apparent logical reasoning. "Antonio's on board right now too. He's been so nice! Don't tell him I told you, but Romano's been sitting awfully close to him…ve~, I knew he missed him too. I don't want him to go with Antonio but he seems happy…well, you know, happy for Romano…" Feliciano continued to ramble.

"I doubt your brother will be fleeing to Antonino's ship, no matter how happy he is to see him." Ludwig said as he tried to bend down and undo the rope connecting Matthew's boat to Alfred's so that if need be, they wouldn't have to be slowed down by tugging the additional weight of the damaged boat.

It was a difficult task with Feliciano attached to him, but internally he tried to just think of it as muscle building. "Francis is heading back with Antonio rather than staying on board with Arthur any longer than he has to. It is a wonder that the two of them didn't kill each other before we got here." Ludwig said, Feliciano just shrugging as though he hadn't really paid much attention to that while they'd waited for help to arrive.

"Does that mean you'll have pasta too?" Feliciano asked, Ludwig wondering how he'd transitioned to that question, but he just shook his head.

"Sure. But I didn't bring much." Ludwig said, a slight blush tinting his cheeks at his friend wanting to share food with him. While not unusual, he just knew Gilbert would tease him relentlessly while Elizabeta shot knowing smirks and took pictures as Roderich sat off to the side with a criticizing look on his face at the whole ordeal.

"That's alright. We'll mix it with wurst again." Feliciano said, the two of them climbing back aboard Ludwig's boat. Almost as though they'd triggered it, Romano's shouting could be heard as he demanded that Antonio stop pinching his cheek.

Feliciano giggled as his brother's usual display of gruffness that Antonio completely ignored as he laughed until Romano chased him off the boat and nearly knocked himself and Feliciano into the water again. Ludwig reached out a hand to steady them, wondering why neither Gilbert nor Roderich were around to actually do something to help him.

"I will see you as soon as we get back to land and there will be many churros to be had. I promise, mi tomate, and I will make them myself for you." Antonio said as he climbed aboard his ship, Romano blushing again and grumbling under his breath as the Spaniard gave a final cheery wave.


	18. Chapter 18

Getting back to land seemed much longer of a trip than it should have been, particularly for Alfred since he'd been more or less confined to the sick bay room for the entire trip despite all sorts of pleas and bargains he'd made to Tino and Matthew. They'd taken off sooner than Ludwig and Antonio did with their ships, carrying the injured personifications back to land as quickly as possible.

There had been a period of stay in the local hospital for Kiku, Alfred and Arthur, although Alfred had wandered off on his own a few times. Luckily for Matthew, it seemed the American's internal radar always ended up leading him to wherever Arthur ended up, much to the British man's 'annoyance' at finding Alfred never really disappeared those times.

By the fourth time the doctors had realized the failure of the sedatives to force Alfred still for necessary fluids to be administered- after he'd been given a blood transfusion that had made Feliks nearly faint when Alfred had accidentally torn out the needle getting up to hug Toris and therefore left a grisly-looking splatter on the wall – Arthur took to just waiting for Alfred to show up with goofy grin in place and fresh whining about wanting to head back out to the others.

But eventually all were released, including Kiku with a set of crutches and a cast signed in large bold letters by Alfred regardless of his friend's request to keep things simple. They were back at the resort where the personifications that had stayed to see things through remained, sharing a dinner of both local dishes and the predictable copious amounts of burgers and steaks.

Tino was back with the other Nordics, Alfred occasionally popping up to hang on the Finnish man in his usual playful manner as he thanked him for coming to get him. Tino kept blushing periodically with each round of thanks, not sure what to do with the bundle of stuff Alfred had thrown together from various shops he'd managed to stop at once he'd finally been 'freed' from the hospital. But he figured at the very least, Peter might like the stuffed sea turtle that Alfred had picked up as a souvenir for him and it would've only been rude if he didn't indulge in the candies picked out for him either.

"Yo! Kiku….check these out." Alfred called over to his friend with his left arm, his right still in a sling as a compromise with the doctors to be let out of the hospital earlier than his boss would've liked so long as he actually used it – although Matthew had to remind him several times that the sling wasn't a large pocket for stuffing food in for later as Alfred repeatedly kept pulling his right arm out to handle things.

Kiku looked up from where he had been talking with Heracles, Yao and Hong Kong not too far off as they brought more food back to the table for themselves and the Japanese man to keep him from walking around more than necessary. Alfred bounded over, pulling his camera out of his sling to pull up on the screen pictures of something.

"Yeah, so the people that do that statistic-stuff said that a lot of your people liked to visit here. So I thought before you leave, you might wanna come with me and check out somma these spots." He said, taking the seat that had been Hong Kong's. The Asian personification just shook his head at that, heading off with an expression as though just remembering something.

Kiku nodded politely at the locations that Alfred had snapped pictures of, commenting on visiting them 'maybe later' as he ate some of the food his brother brought over for him. With that, Alfred was off on some other great idea of his, his whale being at the forefront of conversation as he'd spent a large portion of his day on the docks so he could give his promised attention to his friend.

"Frog! _What_ do you think you are _doing_?" Arthur's voice rang out, Matthew looking over to see what it was that his older brothers were up to now. Looking over to where the British man was sitting, Matthew could see Francis with a far too smug look on his face as he leaned over the green-eyed blonde. One might have thought he was simply giving his now only bruised forehead a closer look, except for the hand that was currently in the other's hair and the other arm slung around his shoulders.

"Mon ami, I am making sure you are having a good time with that injury and all." Francis said with a smile that the British man returned with a scowl of his own.

"And that requires you to hang all over me? I think _not_." Arthur said, trying to put some space between him and the Frenchman.

"Oh, but Arthur. It was moi who took such good care of you out there." Francis said. "I am only continuing my efforts. I know how such painful-looking bruises feel much better if they are iced." He said, leaning away from Arthur. The British man arched an eyebrow before shifting uncomfortably in his seat in an effort to compose himself. But he suddenly stiffened up before bolting upright out of his seat.

"Ah! You bloody….oooh, that's freezing…." Arthur said as he attempted to get rid of the ice cube the Frenchman had discretely slipped down his shirt. "Gah…" Arthur mumbled as he arched his back and reached behind him. "You're going to regret this." He continued, face red from both anger and embarrassment.

"Perhaps. But you dance beautifully mon cher." Francis said, practically purring at the way Arthur tried to keep the cold ice from touching his skin. Arthur wriggled once more before getting the ice cube out and chucking it at the Frenchman's head. Francis only laughed as he shielded his face from the now much smaller piece of ice. But before Arthur could retort, a loud bang was heard. Those still hanging around at the resort looked out the window to see the fizzling out of a firework that had gone off.

"Cool! That one was a smiley-face." Denmark said with a grin at the sight of the unexpected firework, dragging Norway over to the window with him. The Danish man had been quite pleased with himself after declaring once everyone was safely returned that since the Nordics were the only ones to have made it back to land without any further difficulty other than the storm, they were the legitimate winners of the race.

To which, of course, Russia added that he too was a victor since he managed to find a way to get onboard said winning vessel, cheery smile in place as he'd patted Latvia on the head and asked if the other agreed with him. They hadn't seen much of the Russian man since then, and Denmark had been set on making sure he brought up his supposed victory whenever he got the chance, although now his focus was solely on the new entertainment going on outside.

After getting over the initial surprise, Arthur turned to shoot a look at the American of the group. "Alfred!" Arthur shouted accusatorily to the American, Alfred returning the glare with a genuine innocent look as he held up his arms in the universal gesture of surrender.

"Put your arm back in the sling. That's what it's there for, eh." Matthew said, grabbing Alfred's right arm and helping him put the sling back on properly. It hadn't been the first time that night he'd disregarded it, but Matthew was wondering how much longer his own very patient personality had left before he snapped at his twin.

"Wasn't me dude. I didn't ask anybody to do anything special. I thought I used up all the ones I brought here." Alfred said as his twin fussed with the sling, Yao gasping as he caught on and scanned the room for a particular someone.

"Aiya! Hong Kong…." He said with an exasperated tone as another firework was set off, the American and Danish personifications making appropriate 'oohs' and 'aahs' along with Poland. Yao hastily got up from his seat with a whisper to Kiku to stay put, the Japanese man shooting him a deadpan look at that request.

"Uh, I'm not an expert, but they seem very close to the hotel…" Toris said a little anxiously, pulling Feliks away from the door in case his friend decided to get another up-close look. Yao grumbled something in response before he took off, complaining about being the only mature one around. Another firework went off, illuminating in the distance a familiar silhouette with scarf still worn in the heat that identified the man standing away from the group.

"Ahhhh!" Raivis' voice was heard, as moments after the loud 'boom', the Latvian personification took advantage of the distraction to head off as fast as he could in the direction of the others.

"Oh no…" Toris mumbled, feeling guilty and looking over to where Estonia stood with the Nordics by Finland. "Eduard, we forgot to check in on Raivis…." He said, Eduard grimacing a little in guilt as well as they'd left him to take the brunt of the Russian man's welcoming. Said personification came racing over to them, out of breath as he looked for an appropriate shield. He managed to shoot an unimpressed look at his fellow Baltic nations before deciding that hanging around Alfred was his best bet.

"Hey dude. Check out the show." Alfred said, scooting over to allow the smaller man to squeeze next to him and look out the window. Raivis quickly did that, Alfred letting out an 'oomphf' as the Latvian accidentally stepped on his foot.

"Ah, s-s-sorry Mr. America." He stuttered out, still a little breathless from what Toris and Eduard assumed was almost a week's worth of evading their former housemate. Alfred just shrugged as Ivan came back to the group as well.

"Where ya' been man? I haven't seen you since we got back." Alfred called out to Ivan, inadvertently blocking the Russian's path to his Latvian 'friend'.

"Da. I have been looking to take care of my friends that were also caught up in the storm." Ivan said with a smile, although he looked over Alfred's shoulder to Raivis as he spoke. "But you seem to be doing well. I think we should toast to everyone's safe return, da?" He said, heading over to the bar and grabbing a vodka bottle. It went without saying that the Russian probably could consume the whole thing on his own, but no one turned down the offered shot-glass if Ivan decided to hand one over to another person.

"We should find some of that awesome stuff you made me drink once. We could set the thing on fire." Gilbert said as he took a glass of vodka. "I mean, the awesome me could handle a little flame so long as it's on the good stuff. None of that…uh…" He trailed off at the look Ivan gave him, pausing only for a moment before shrugging and downing the shot of vodka with the usual 'to your health' with Ivan. He slapped the Russian on the back before calling out for Ludwig to join him on the dance floor for the 'awesome him to awesomely own him in the dance off', to which the German predictably shook his head as Feliciano chatted away about the fireworks next to him.

As the fireworks continued to go off, Yao shouting at Hong Kong to move farther away and not aim them the way he was, the party resumed the typical chaos of their usual gatherings. Alfred laughed loudly at some of the things the others said, Matthew lingering close-by with his small smile in place. Arthur and Francis returned to their arguing, the Frenchman actually giving the other a chance to recover when the noise level was too much for his head before resuming right where they left off as though it was all a game – a fact that seemed to only drive Arthur's irritation higher. And Antonio was all too happy to be sharing his promised churros with Lovino, the southern Italian only slightly quieter as he munched on them with the Spaniard.

All in all, everything was close enough to being back to normal. This included the mad dash to finish up the fireworks before anyone called the authorities on Hong Kong, the Asian personification disregarding his older brother's warnings and setting off all the remaining fireworks in a clump to keep Yao from confiscating them. But the sight was still pretty enough for the other personifications to marvel at it, the colors meshing enough in their circular explosions to almost look like a blue and green globe if one chose to see it that way.


End file.
